Amendment XXVII · Later Amendment
Twenty-Seventh Amendment: Congressional pay changes delayed
About 15 min total: 5 min reading + 10 min for its 7 practice questions
A change in congressional pay cannot take effect until after the next House election.
- Proposed by Congress
- September 25, 1789
- Ratified
- May 7, 1992
- Group
- Later Amendment
The text
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
What it means
- If Congress votes to change its members' pay, the change cannot take effect until after the next House election, so voters can respond first.
Who proposed it
James Madison proposed it in 1789 as part of his original amendments (it was the second of the 12 articles Congress sent to the states). In 1982 Gregory Watson, a University of Texas student, wrote a paper about it and then led a letter-writing campaign that persuaded state legislatures to ratify it.
When it was proposed and ratified
- Proposed by Congress: September 25, 1789. Proposed with the Bill of Rights as the second of 12 articles.
- Ratified: May 7, 1992. Michigan's ratification on May 7, 1992 completed it; the Archivist of the United States certified it later that month.
Amendments are not signed into law. Congress proposes them by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and they become part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states ratify. The President has no formal role (Article V).
Why it was made
Madison and others did not want members of Congress to be able to raise their own pay immediately. Only six states ratified it by 1791, and it had no deadline. Ohio ratified it in 1873 to protest a congressional pay raise. Public anger at congressional pay raises in the 1980s helped Watson's campaign succeed, and Michigan's ratification in 1992 completed it, more than 202 years after it was proposed.
Key Supreme Court cases
None of the FCLE landmark cases centers on this amendment. See all landmark cases.
FCLE tips
- Longest time to ratify: proposed 1789, ratified 1992.
| This | With this |
|---|---|
| 27th: proposed 1789, ratified 1992 | 26th: fastest ratification (1971) |
Sources: National Archives (text and dates); Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov) (proposal and ratification history); U.S. Senate Historical Office and Library of Congress (sponsors).