A state senator is suing his fellow lawmakers in the South Carolina General Assembly saying they are illegally giving themselves what is effectively an $18,000-a-year raise for all members. The increase in the “in-district compensation” — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — is

His lawsuit calls the allocation a direct violation of Article III, Section 19 of the state Constitution, which stipulates that "no General Assembly shall have the power to increase the per diem of i...