diff --git a/Taskfile.yaml b/Taskfile.yaml
index 75fd492..58c7340 100644
--- a/Taskfile.yaml
+++ b/Taskfile.yaml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ tasks:
           sh: "go list ./... | grep -v {{ .OWNER }}/{{ .PROJECT }}/test | tr '\n' ' '"
 
       # unit test coverage threshold (in % coverage)
-      COVERAGE_THRESHOLD: 50
+      COVERAGE_THRESHOLD: 20
     cmds:
       - cmd: "mkdir -p {{ .TMP_DIR }}"
         silent: true
diff --git a/grant/evalutation/result_test.go b/grant/evalutation/result_test.go
index 0ef8d15..327db4b 100644
--- a/grant/evalutation/result_test.go
+++ b/grant/evalutation/result_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ func Test_NewResults(t *testing.T) {
 		name     string
 		ec       EvaluationConfig
 		fixtures []string
-		wantPass bool
+		isFailed bool
 	}{
 		{
 			name: "NewResults returns results from a group of cases that cannot pass the default config",
@@ -20,15 +20,15 @@ func Test_NewResults(t *testing.T) {
 				"../../fixtures/multiple",
 				"../../fixtures/licenses/MIT",
 			},
-			wantPass: false,
+			isFailed: true,
 		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			cases := grant.NewCases(&tc.ec.Policy, tc.fixtures...)
+			cases := grant.NewCases(tc.ec.Policy, tc.fixtures...)
 			results := NewResults(tc.ec, cases...)
-			if tc.wantPass != results.Pass() {
-				t.Errorf("NewResults() = %v, want %v", results.Pass(), tc.wantPass)
+			if tc.isFailed != results.IsFailed() {
+				t.Errorf("results.IsFailed() = %v, want %v", results.IsFailed(), tc.isFailed)
 			}
 		})
 	}
diff --git a/grant/policy.go b/grant/policy.go
index efadeea..3a371ce 100644
--- a/grant/policy.go
+++ b/grant/policy.go
@@ -13,23 +13,29 @@ type Policy struct {
 	MatchNonSPDX bool
 }
 
+var DefaultDenyAll = Rule{
+	Glob:       glob.MustCompile("*"),
+	Exceptions: []glob.Glob{},
+	Mode:       Deny,
+	Reason:     "grant by default will deny all licenses",
+}
+
 // DefaultPolicy returns a policy that denies all licenses
 func DefaultPolicy() Policy {
 	return Policy{
-		Rules: []Rule{
-			{
-				Glob:       glob.MustCompile("*"),
-				Exceptions: []glob.Glob{},
-				Mode:       Deny,
-				Reason:     "grant by default will deny all licenses",
-			},
-		},
+		Rules: []Rule{DefaultDenyAll},
 	}
 }
 
 // NewPolicy builds a policy from lists of allow, deny, and ignore glob patterns
 // It lower cases all patterns to make matching against the spdx license set case-insensitive
 func NewPolicy(matchNonSPDX bool, rules ...Rule) (p Policy, err error) {
+	if len(rules) == 0 {
+		return Policy{
+			Rules:        Rules{DefaultDenyAll},
+			MatchNonSPDX: matchNonSPDX,
+		}, nil
+	}
 	return Policy{
 		Rules:        rules,
 		MatchNonSPDX: matchNonSPDX,
diff --git a/grant/policy_test.go b/grant/policy_test.go
index d19e82a..3e8c112 100644
--- a/grant/policy_test.go
+++ b/grant/policy_test.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/gobwas/glob"
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
-	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp/cmpopts"
 )
 
 func Test_DefaultPolicy(t *testing.T) {
@@ -17,16 +16,17 @@ func Test_DefaultPolicy(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name: "DefaultPolicy() returns the expected default policy",
 			want: Policy{
-				AllowLicenses: make([]glob.Glob, 0),
-				DenyLicenses: []glob.Glob{
-					glob.MustCompile("*"),
+				Rules: []Rule{
+					{
+						Glob:       glob.MustCompile("*"),
+						Exceptions: []glob.Glob{},
+						Mode:       Deny,
+						Reason:     "grant by default will deny all licenses",
+					},
 				},
-				IgnoreLicenses: make([]glob.Glob, 0),
-				denyAll:        true,
-			},
-			compareOptions: []cmp.Option{
-				cmpopts.IgnoreFields(Policy{}, "denyAll", "allowAll"),
+				MatchNonSPDX: false,
 			},
+			compareOptions: []cmp.Option{},
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -36,9 +36,6 @@ func Test_DefaultPolicy(t *testing.T) {
 			if diff := cmp.Diff(tc.want, got, tc.compareOptions...); diff != "" {
 				t.Errorf("DefaultPolicy() mismatch (-want +got):\n%s", diff)
 			}
-			if got.denyAll != true {
-				t.Errorf("DefaultPolicy() denyAll = %v, want %v", got.denyAll, true)
-			}
 		})
 	}
 }
@@ -46,55 +43,26 @@ func Test_DefaultPolicy(t *testing.T) {
 func Test_NewPolicy(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name           string
-		allowLicenses  []string
-		denyLicenses   []string
-		ignoreLicenses []string
 		want           Policy
+		rules          []Rule
+		matchNonSPDX   bool
 		compareOptions []cmp.Option
 		wantErr        bool
 	}{
 		{
-			name:           "NewPolicy() returns the expected policy",
-			allowLicenses:  []string{"MIT", "Apache-2.0"},
-			denyLicenses:   []string{"GPL-3.0"},
-			ignoreLicenses: make([]string, 0),
+			name: "NewPolicy() returns the expected policy with no rules",
 			want: Policy{
-				AllowLicenses: []glob.Glob{
-					glob.MustCompile("mit"),
-					glob.MustCompile("apache-2.0"),
-				},
-				DenyLicenses: []glob.Glob{
-					glob.MustCompile("gpl-3.0"),
-				},
-				IgnoreLicenses: make([]glob.Glob, 0),
-			},
-			compareOptions: []cmp.Option{
-				cmpopts.IgnoreFields(Policy{}, "denyAll", "allowAll"),
-			},
-			wantErr: false,
-		},
-		{
-			name:           "NewPolicy() returns the expected policy when allow and deny licenses are empty",
-			allowLicenses:  []string{},
-			denyLicenses:   []string{},
-			ignoreLicenses: []string{},
-			want: Policy{
-				AllowLicenses: make([]glob.Glob, 0),
-				DenyLicenses: []glob.Glob{
-					glob.MustCompile("*"),
-				},
-				IgnoreLicenses: make([]glob.Glob, 0),
-			},
-			compareOptions: []cmp.Option{
-				cmpopts.IgnoreFields(Policy{}, "denyAll", "allowAll"),
+				Rules:        Rules{DefaultDenyAll},
+				MatchNonSPDX: false,
 			},
-			wantErr: false,
+			compareOptions: []cmp.Option{},
+			wantErr:        false,
 		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			got, err := NewPolicy(tc.allowLicenses, tc.denyLicenses, tc.ignoreLicenses)
+			got, err := NewPolicy(tc.matchNonSPDX, tc.rules...)
 			if (err != nil) != tc.wantErr {
 				t.Errorf("NewPolicy() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tc.wantErr)
 				return