House Speaker Mike Johnson has been threatened with legal action by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes over his ongoing failure to swear in her state’s new Democratic congresswoman-elect, Adelita Grijalva.
Grijalva, 54, won a special election in Arizona’s 7th congressional district on September 23, comfortably beating Republican Daniel Butierez by picking up 69 percent of the vote to his 29 percent, and will, eventually, succeed her late father, Raul Grijalva, who passed away in March.
In a letter sent to the speaker on Tuesday, Mayes wrote: “Arizona’s right to a full delegation, and the right of the residents of CD 7 to representation from the person they recently voted for, are not up for debate and may not be delayed or used as leverage in negotiations about unrelated legislation.”
Arizona Democratic congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva is still waiting to be sworn-in by House Speaker Mike Johnson almost a month after winning her special election (Getty)
The state AG went on to accuse Johnson of “trying to use Arizona’s constitutional right to representation in the House as a bargaining chip” and gave him two days to respond.
The Republican speaker has insisted he will administer the oath of office to Grijalva as soon as the U.S. government shutdown ends and the House of Representatives is back in session.
“As I have said repeatedly, the House will follow customary practice by swearing in Rep.-elect Grijalva when the House is in legislative session,” Johnson said in a statement.
The Independent has reached out to the speaker’s office and to Grijalva’s team for an update on the situation.
Mayes, for one, is not satisfied and has further alleged that Grijalva’s willingness to make her signature the 218th and final one added to the discharge petition, thereby forcing a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, could be a factor behind Johnson’s hesitation.
The speaker has rejected the insinuation as false. “It has nothing to do with that at all,” he said last week. “We will swear her in when everybody gets back.”
Guesting on CNN’s Laura Coates Live on Tuesday evening, Mayes said she will have “no other choice” but to take Johnson to court if he continues to leave Grijalva out in the cold.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has insisted he will swear-in Grijalva as soon as the government shutdown is resolved (AP)
“There’s no legitimate reason for him to refuse to swear her in right now – no other reason that I can think of, except that perhaps she’s the final vote to discharge the Epstein files,” she said.
“And it’s not fair for Mike Johnson to be holding the state of Arizona hostage because he doesn’t want to release the Epstein files.”
She continued: “This really has not been done before, and the case law in general is with us on this issue. So we would be saying to a judge we’d like a declaratory judgment that says the speaker has to seat Adelita Grijalva, he has to swear her in. And if he doesn’t, then he’ll be violating our rights as Arizonans, and he’ll be violating the Constitution.”
Grijalva has taken to social media to protest her case, recording a video outside of Johnson’s office on Tuesday, demanding he seat her and reporting that the House Women’s Caucus was demonstrating on her behalf.
Earlier in the day, she told Politico that she had finally received the keys to her new office on Capitol Hill, only to find it was “just a space” inside, with no phone, computer, or internet set up for her, which compounded her frustration.
Although most government business is suspended because of the shutdown – now into its 15th day with no sign of a deal to end the impasse forthcoming – Johnson does have the power to call a “pro forma” session of the chamber at which he could induct Grijalva, which is permissible for carrying out constitutional duties.
There is even a precedent for doing so within the current Congress. In April, two Florida Republican representatives, Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis, were sworn in a day after winning their own special elections during pro forma sessions.
