Cook County, Illinois v. United States Ex Rel. Janet Chandler

Decided March 10, 2003. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 01-1572 · 538 U.S. 119 (2003) · Cited 281 times

Holding

Local governments are “persons” amenable to qui tam actions under the FCA.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States Ex Rel. Stevens · 529 U.S. 765 (2000)
• City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc. · 453 U.S. 247 (1981)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• United States v. Bornstein · 423 U.S. 303 (1976)
• City of Lafayette v. Louisiana Power & Light Co. · 435 U.S. 389 (1978)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Brunswick Corp. v. Pueblo Bowl-O-Mat, Inc. · 429 U.S. 477 (1977)
• United States v. Halper · 490 U.S. 435 (1989)
• Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Associates, Inc. · 483 U.S. 143 (1987)
• United States Ex Rel. Marcus v. Hess · 317 U.S. 537 (1943)
• Boyd's Lessee v. Graves · 17 U.S. 513 (1819)
• Burns v. United States · 501 U.S. 129 (1991)
• Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States Ex Rel. Schumer · 520 U.S. 939 (1997)
• Posadas v. National City Bank · 296 U.S. 497 (1936)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Inc. v. Hydrolevel Corp. · 456 U.S. 556 (1982)
• United States v. Neifert-White Co. · 390 U.S. 228 (1968)
• Rainwater v. United States · 356 U.S. 590 (1958)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District v. United States Ex Rel. Wilson · 559 U.S. 280 (2010)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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David Hackett Souter’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2003). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).