Sponsors (6)
The bill increases transparency and judicial oversight of settlements involving the President to prevent undisclosed benefits and bolster public trust, at the cost of added litigation burdens, delays, uncertainty for claimants, and potential retroactive disruption of prior settlements.
Taxpayers, federal employees, and the general public: requires that settlement terms in matters involving the President be filed and subjected to an evidentiary hearing, preventing undisclosed or collusive agreements and increasing transparency and judicial oversight.
General public and voters: reduces the risk that the executive could obtain personal or third‑party benefits through non‑adversarial settlement processes, bolstering public trust and accountability in the Presidency.
Taxpayers and parties to prior settlements: the provision applies retroactively to agreements concluded before enactment, potentially reopening, voiding, or destabilizing past settlements and creating substantial legal and financial uncertainty.
Plaintiffs and third‑party claimants: resolving claims involving a President will become slower and more uncertain because agreements are void until court approval, increasing delay and reducing predictability of settlements.
The President, the Department of Justice, and federal litigators: adds procedural burdens by requiring evidentiary hearings and court approval, which could increase litigation costs and delay resolution of disputes.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires court approval and explicit judicial findings before settlement agreements that would benefit the President or a directed third party can take effect; otherwise such agreements are void.
Official title: To amend title 28, United States Code, to establish certain requirements for compromise settlements between the President and the United States, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 9, 2026 by Jamie Ben Raskin · Last progress June 9, 2026
Prohibits the President from entering or carrying out settlement agreements, consent decrees, or similar compromises that would directly or indirectly provide benefits to the President or a third party at the President's direction unless a United States court reviews and affirmatively approves the agreement after a hearing with evidence and explicit findings. The bill treats covered agreements as void unless the court issues findings that the parties were adverse, the suit was not brought to force a settlement, the United States made a good-faith defense and had a reasonable legal basis to settle, the agreement is not collusive or fraudulent, and the agreement serves the interest of justice. Applies to agreements concluded before, on, or after enactment, requires the President to file suit and proposed terms in federal court if no civil action exists, and inserts the new provision into the federal judicial code governing courts and filings.