The U.S. Justice Department’s arguments that it can step in and dismiss a qui tam action at any point found mostly sympathetic justices in the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, but they struggled with what standard should apply to grant the motion to dismiss.

The False Claims Act provides for private individuals, known as relators, to bring qui tam actions in the name of the United States. The government has 60 days, sometimes longer, to investigate the claims and to decide whether to intervene and take over the litigation. If the government declines to intervene, the relator may proceed with the action.