necessary approval of three-fourths of the states.
The amendment became a source of controversy
because of the long period between congressional
approval and state ratification.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment was one of
twelve original amendments passed by Congress in
1789, ten of which would become the Bill of Rights.
The amendment delayed payment of congressional
pay raises until the next congressional election, allow-
ing voters to consider the pay raise as an election is-
sue. The amendment was long forgotten until a Uni-
versity of Texas political science student, Gregory
Watson, composed a paper arguing that the amend-
ment could be ratified. Throughout the 1980’s, state
legislatures ratified the amendment, moving it closer
to becoming part of the Constitution.
The amendment became a major political issue
during the early 1990’s as a series of congressional
scandals raised anger against the institution. State
legislatures expressed their disgust with Congress by
ratifying the amendment. The amendment was
given another boost starting in 1990, the first con-
gressional session in which members received auto-
matic cost-of-living pay increases, saving members
the political pain of voting for annual pay raises. The
automatic raises were unpopular with voters and
placed congressional pay on the political front
burner. The 1992 House of Representatives check-
kiting scandal, in which congresspersons wrote bad
checks to the House bank, provided the final impe-
tus for the amendment’s passage. By the spring of
1992, state legislatures were in a race to see which
could become the thirty-eighth state to ratify the
amendment and make it part of the Constitution.
The Michigan legislature won the race, followed by
New Jersey on the same day, Illinois on May 12, and
California on June 26.
Questions were raised as to whether the amend-
ment was properly ratified after two hundred years
of constitutional limbo. Some members of Congress
argued that the period of time between congressio-
nal approval and final ratification made it unaccept-
able, but these arguments were drowned out as both
houses voted overwhelmingly in favor of the amend-
ment.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment was immedi-
ately used by groups challenging the 1989 automatic
pay raise law. InBoehner v. Anderson(1992), a federal
judge upheld the 1989 law as abiding by the terms of
the amendment.
Impact While the Twenty-seventh Amendment
served mostly as a protest tool for state legislatures
unhappy with Congress, its long-term impact was
minimal, only delaying when members of Congress
could receive pay raises rather than changing the
method of increasing their pay.Further Reading
Palmer, Kris E., ed.Constitutional Amendments:1789 to
the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.
Vile, John.A Companion to the United States Constitu-
tion and Its Amendments. 4th ed. Westport, Conn.:
Praeger, 2006.
Douglas ClouatreSee also Conservatism in U.S. politics; Elections in
the United States, 1992; Liberalism in U.S. politics;
Scandals. Twin Peaks
Identification Cult television series
Creators David Lynch (1946- ) and Mark
Frost (1953- )
Date Aired from April 8, 1990, to June 10, 1991Combining elements of soap opera, myster y/detective
drama, quirky humor, and supernatural horror, this series
drew fans of David Lynch’s idiosyncratic films to the televi-
sion format and developed an intense cult following while
appealing strongly to a broad general audience.“She’s dead... wrapped in plastic”—this dialogue
from Twin Peaks’ premiere episode became one of
the most famous and oft-cited quotes in television
history. Its two-hour opening episode filmed in
Washington State, the remainder filmed on dupli-
cate soundstages,Twin Peakscreated a genuine sense
of place, if not time, much like Lynch’sBlue Velvet
(1986). When it was announced that Lynch would
create a television soap opera, enthusiasts ofEras-
erhead(1977),The Elephant Man(1980), andDune
(1984) wondered how Lynch could possibly work his
bizarre creativity within the confines of network tele-
vision. The series defied expectations to become a
highly rated cult phenomenon. “Who killed Laura
Palmer?” replaced “Who shot J.R.?” (Dallas) as the
biggest question on television viewers’ minds.
The magic of the series was Lynch’s ability to
bring a cinematic sensibility to the small screen.The Nineties in America Twin Peaks 875