{"id":42,"date":"2026-05-24T18:40:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42"},"modified":"2026-05-24T18:40:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:40:32","slug":"judge-weighs-in-on-lawmaker-cost-of-living-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42","title":{"rendered":"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a group of current and former congressional lawmakers are not barred from recovering damages in a case over whether members of Congress are owed back pay for years of suppressed cost-of-living increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=40\">Trump could face foreign policy squeeze in Senate after primary ruckus<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The lawmakers\u2019 legal team has argued that Congress and the president have violated the 27th Amendment with laws that repeatedly blocked the annual cost-of-living adjustments to lawmaker salaries set out in a 1989 law. Members of Congress last received a pay adjustment in 2009, when their salary was increased 2.8 percent to $174,000.<\/p>\n<p>The 27th Amendment states that no law \u201cvarying\u201d lawmaker compensation \u201cshall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Besides ruling that the lawmakers are not prevented from recovering damages, Judge Eric G. Bruggink of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims found that the 27th Amendment applies to laws that decrease congressional compensation and that laws blocking cost-of-living adjustments are statutes \u201cvarying\u201d lawmaker compensation under the amendment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLaws varying congressional compensation are ineffective to the extent they seek to effectuate a change in congressional compensation before an election intervenes,\u201d Bruggink wrote in the opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government had argued the challenged statutes did not \u201cvary\u201d congressional pay and as such did not implicate the 27th Amendment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, there are other questions that need to be answered in the case, Bruggink wrote in the opinion, including \u201cwhen an election \u2018intervenes\u2019 for purposes of the Amendment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=38\">Reconciliation bill punted until after Memorial Day recess<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit is being pursued by Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Ark.; James E. Clyburn, D-S.C.; and Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., along with former Reps. Rodney L. Davis, R-Ill., and Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo.<\/p>\n<p>The opinion marks a rare ruling on the parameters of the 27th Amendment. At oral arguments earlier this year, the judge made an apparent nod to the weighty constitutional issues at play and said the issue is likely to end up at a higher court.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During a House appropriations markup on Thursday, the ruling caught the attention of Hoyer, one of the plaintiffs, who addressed the committee and read aloud part of the opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hoyer said it\u2019s not a full decision on the disposition of the case, but a decision nonetheless.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeventeen years, I have gotten people from my side and people from the other side saying, \u2018Can\u2019t we fix this,\u2019\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cWe now have a court decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=36\">At the Races: Full disclosure, Jersey edition<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a group of current and former congressional lawmakers are not barred from recovering damages in a case over whether members of Congress are owed back pay for years of suppressed cost-of-living increases.&nbsp; The lawmakers\u2019 legal team has argued that Congress and the president have violated the 27th Amendment with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a group of current and former congressional lawmakers are not barred from recovering damages in a case over whether members of Congress are owed back pay for years of suppressed cost-of-living increases.&nbsp; The lawmakers\u2019 legal team has argued that Congress and the president have violated the 27th Amendment with [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-24T18:40:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"headline\":\"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T18:40:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42\"},\"wordCount\":427,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42\",\"name\":\"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case - American Industry Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T18:40:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg\",\"width\":1620,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - MARCH 2: Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaks during a press conference to kick off a series of meet-the-voter events for Del. Adrian Boafo, Democratic candidate for Maryland\u2019s Fifth Congressional District, at Kenhill Center in Bowie, Md., on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Tom Williams\\\/CQ Roll Call)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=42#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Industry Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case - American Industry Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case - American Industry Review","og_description":"A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a group of current and former congressional lawmakers are not barred from recovering damages in a case over whether members of Congress are owed back pay for years of suppressed cost-of-living increases.&nbsp; The lawmakers\u2019 legal team has argued that Congress and the president have violated the 27th Amendment with [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42","og_site_name":"American Industry Review","article_published_time":"2026-05-24T18:40:32+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"headline":"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case","datePublished":"2026-05-24T18:40:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42"},"wordCount":427,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg","articleSection":["Congress"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42","name":"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case - American Industry Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-24T18:40:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fa584651fda8a8bc2113a4e9262796f0.jpeg","width":1620,"height":1080,"caption":"UNITED STATES - MARCH 2: Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaks during a press conference to kick off a series of meet-the-voter events for Del. Adrian Boafo, Democratic candidate for Maryland\u2019s Fifth Congressional District, at Kenhill Center in Bowie, Md., on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Tom Williams\/CQ Roll Call)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=42#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Judge weighs in on lawmaker cost-of-living case"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/","name":"American Industry Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanindustryreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}