Bill shields sitting president and family from federal lawsuits.
H.R. 5988 — CORRUPT Act · Filed by Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) · 12 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 7, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Federal Tort Claims Act to bar ordinary citizens from suing the President or his immediate family (spouse, children, siblings, in-laws) in federal court for personal injuries or damages caused by the President's or family members' negligent or wrongful acts. Citizens retain all other legal remedies, but cannot recover money from the federal government for harm caused by the President or covered relatives during his term.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to create a blanket exception to federal tort liability for the sitting President and his immediate family members. It is not a general tort-reform measure or a narrow technical fix—it is a targeted immunity grant for one office and its occupant's relatives.
What the text implies
- The exception applies to claims brought BY the President or family, not claims brought AGAINST them—but the operative effect is immunity because the federal government is the defendant in FTCA suits, and this bars the President/family from being the claimant. This inverts normal tort standing: it prevents the President from suing the government on behalf of himself or family, which is unusual fram
- The bill does not explicitly state whether state-law tort claims, criminal prosecution, or impeachment are affected, but the FTCA exception is narrow to federal court. Citizens retain state remedies, but federal-court access—often the most powerful forum for large damages—is closed.
- The term 'covered relative' includes in-laws, which is unusually broad and may capture spouses of adult children or siblings, extending immunity beyond the President's immediate household.
- No sunset or temporal limit beyond 'during the term for which such President shall have been elected'—immunity lasts the full presidential term regardless of when the injury occurred.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose a legal remedy (federal tort recovery) for personal injuries or damages caused by the President or his immediate family. The bill does not eliminate state-law claims or other remedies, but it strips away federal-court access to recover from the federal government for presidential or family misconduct, creating a broad immunity zone for the sitting President and his relatives.
Named in the bill
President of the United States, Federal Tort Claims Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2680, House Committee on the Judiciary
Where it stands
12 cosponsors: 12 Democrats.
- Nov 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 7, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,370,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
- Consumer Technology Association — $1,370,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (553 characters) on Oct 26, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,580 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-26.
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