Government contract attorneys are viewing Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in a False Claims Act dispute as a case that could represent a pendulum shift sending shock waves through the business community. 

“If they go with the whistleblowers, it’s going to open up a lot of FCA cases,” Snell & Wilmer partner Brett Johnson said in an interview after Tuesday’s hearing in United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu. “There’s a lot of people waiting in the wings, on both the plaintiff and federal side, waiting to see how this plays out.”