Since 1986, over 4000 federal lawsuits have been filed under the civil False Claims Act (FCA), a Civil War era law enacted to combat fraud by recipients of federal funds. This term, the Supreme Court will decide whether local governments can be sued under the FCA for misuse of federal funds. The decision will affect the manner in which local governments are held accountable to their federal agency benefactors and whether local taxpayers will bear the statute's severe financial punishment for the misdeeds of their local leaders.