Three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices noted last week that they would consider future constitutional challenges to the federal False Claims Act, a law that since the Civil War has allowed private plaintiffs to sue over false bills sent to the government.

The high court’s decision Friday in U.S. ex rel. Polanksy v. Executive Health Resources Inc. did not touch on the constitutionality of the act. Instead, the court said judges should generally defer to the Department of Justice when it seeks the dismissal of a private plaintiff’s FCA lawsuit against a defendant accused of submitting bogus claims.