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10  UNITED STATES EX REL. SCHUTTE v. SUPERVALU INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

ibid.    And  here,  the  FCA’s  definition  of  “knowingly”  con-
firms that assumption by largely tracking the common-law 
scienter standards for fraud. 

On their face and at common law, the FCA’s standards 
focus primarily on what respondents thought and believed.
First, the term “actual knowledge” refers to whether a per-
son is “aware of ” information.4  See Intel Corp. Investment 
Policy Comm. v. Sulyma, 589 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2020) (slip 
op.,  at  6–7);  Escobar,  579  U. S.,  at  191  (“A  defendant  can 
have ‛actual knowledge’ that a condition is material without 
the  Government  expressly  calling  it  a  condition  of  pay-
ment”); Black’s Law Dictionary 784 (5th ed. 1979) (“to un-
derstand,”  or  “the  perception  of  the  truth”);  Restatement
(Second) of Torts §526, and Comment c.  Second, the term 
“deliberate  ignorance”  encompasses  defendants  who  are 
aware of a substantial risk that their statements are false, 
but  intentionally  avoid  taking  steps  to  confirm  the  state-
ment’s truth or falsity.  See Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. 
SEB S. A., 563 U. S. 754, 769 (2011); Black’s Law Diction-
ary, at 672 (“[v]oluntary ignorance”); Derry, 14 App. Cas.,
at 376.  And, third, the term “reckless disregard” similarly 
captures defendants who are conscious of a substantial and 
unjustifiable risk that their claims are false, but submit the 
claims  anyway.  See  Black’s  Law  Dictionary,  at  1142; 
Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U. S. 825, 836 (1994); Restatement 
(Third) of Torts §10, Comment c.5 

—————— 

4 Respondents contend that “information” can refer only to purely fac-
tual  information,  like  the  number  of  drugs  sold.    But  the  definition  of 
“information” is broad, referring to all “knowledge obtained from inves-
tigation, study, or instruction.”  See Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 
592 (1975); see also American Heritage Dictionary 674–675 (1981).  And, 
in this context, the scienter requirement of the FCA is plainly directed to
the falsity of the claims submitted.  §3729(a)(1)(A). 

5 In some civil contexts, a defendant may be called “reckless” for acting
in the face of an unjustifiably high risk of illegality that was so obvious
that it should have been known, even if the defendant was not actually
conscious of that risk.  See Farmer, 511 U. S., at 836–837.  We need not