Whether the "contributing factor" standard under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act whistleblower protection provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1514A, requires proof that protected whistleblowing activity "tended to affect in any way" the employer's decision to take an unfavorable personnel action, as defined by Congress in the Explanatory Statement to the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 and applied by the Federal Circuit in Marano v. Department of Justice, 2 F.3d 1137 (Fed. Cir. 1993), or whether it requires some higher or different showing of causation.

Whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's whistleblower protection provision requires a plaintiff to prove that their protected activity was a substantial or motivating factor in an adverse employment action, or merely a factor that tends to affect the decision in any way