# Plain Language Summary: Don't Settle for Bribes Act of 2025

This bill would prevent the President, presidential candidates (within 90 days of an election), and the President-elect from filing or continuing civil lawsuits while in office or during their candidacy. If any of these people try to start a lawsuit or continue one they've already filed, a court would have to pause it immediately and keep it paused until their term ends or they lose the election. The bill's name suggests it's meant to stop presidents from using settlements in lawsuits as a way to hide payments or reach deals that might look like bribes, but the actual text simply freezes all civil cases regardless of their nature.

The freeze also extends to the President's immediate family members (spouse and children) and any business or company where the President or their family members are listed as owners or beneficiaries. So if a lawsuit is filed against a family member or a business they own, that case would also be put on hold. However, the bill includes an important exception: it doesn't prevent government agencies from filing or defending lawsuits on behalf of the United States, and it doesn't stop the President from defending themselves in court or accessing the legal system when needed.

One key protection in the bill is that the clock on statutes of limitations—the time limits for filing lawsuits—would pause while cases are frozen. This means if someone has a deadline to file a lawsuit, that deadline gets extended by however long the case was paused. Once the President's term ends or they lose an election, the paused lawsuits can resume and the time limits start running again. This prevents people from losing their legal rights simply because a case was frozen during a presidential term.