Late Vote

Congress is never too humbled by scandal to pass up a turf fight. This week its leaders plan to call for a vote on a constitutional amendment, proposed by James Madison in 1789, barring Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises. Now that 38 states have ratified the proposal, Congress wants credit too. Constitutional scholars say the vote is meaningless; the 27th Amendment will be official as soon as national archivist Don W. Wilson declares that the states’ paperwork is in order.