Legal

Terms of Service

Last updated June 12, 2026

1. Acceptance of these terms

Civitas ("Civitas", "we", "us") provides plain-language summaries of United States government documents at joincivitas.org and app.joincivitas.org (together, the "Service"). By using the Service you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. You must be at least 16 years old to use the Service.

2. What the Service is, and what it is not

Civitas takes primary source documents such as bills before Congress and uses artificial intelligence to produce plain-language summaries, which our editors may review before publication. Summaries are generated by AI and may contain errors, omissions, or characterizations you disagree with. They are provided for general informational purposes only. They are not legal advice, not lobbying guidance, and not a substitute for the underlying document. Every summary links to the official source on Congress.gov; if a decision matters to you, verify against the primary source or consult a qualified professional.

Status indicators, sponsor information, vote and action histories, and similar metadata are reproduced from official government sources and may lag or contain upstream errors.

3. Accounts

Parts of the Service require an account. We authenticate by email magic link; you are responsible for maintaining control of your email address and for activity under your account. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

4. Subscriptions and payment

Some features require a paid subscription. Payments are processed by Polar, our merchant of record, and your payment transaction is also governed by Polar's terms. Pricing, billing period, renewal, and cancellation terms are presented at checkout. Subscriptions renew automatically until canceled. You can cancel at any time through the customer portal; access continues until the end of the period already paid for. We do not offer refunds for partial periods.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

6. Intellectual property

The government documents we summarize are public domain. Our summaries, site design, and software are owned by Civitas. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service and its content for personal, non-commercial purposes, including sharing brief excerpts with attribution. If you send us feedback, we may use it without obligation to you.

7. Third-party links

The Service links to third-party sites, including Congress.gov and the Congressional Budget Office. We are not responsible for their content or practices.

8. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service is provided as is and as available, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Civitas will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the greater of fifty dollars ($50) or the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Civitas harmless from claims arising out of your misuse of the Service or violation of these terms.

11. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for violations of these terms or to protect the Service, with notice where practical. Sections 6, 8, 9, 10, and 13 survive termination.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For material changes we will give notice on the site or by email before the changes take effect. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance of the updated terms.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Pennsylvania, and you consent to their jurisdiction.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: support@joincivitas.org