Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing House Republican leadership of unlawfully blocking Democratic Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva from taking her seat.
Grijalva has yet to be sworn in nearly a month after winning the Sept. 23 special election to fill her late father’s heavily Democratic Southern Arizona seat. Mayes argued that House Speaker Mike Johnson has no constitutional authority to delay Grijalva’s swearing-in, calling it a partisan maneuver that denies Arizonans their full representation in Congress.
The lawsuit claims Johnson’s refusal to administer the oath — or allow anyone else to do so — violates both constitutional precedent and the state’s right to nine duly seated representatives. The filing argues that the Speaker cannot use his position to manipulate who represents the people, citing the Supreme Court’s Powell v. McCormack decision, which prohibits Congress from excluding members who meet all constitutional qualifications.
Johnson has publicly acknowledged Grijalva’s election, but said he would swear in the Arizona Democrat once the House reconvenes and blamed the government shutdown for the delay.
“It’s a publicity stunt by a Democrat Attorney General in Arizona who sees a national moment and wants to call me out,” Johnson told reporters Friday referring to Mayes, Politico reported. “She has nothing whatsoever to do with what’s happening in Congress.”
Multiple House Democrats — as well as Grijalva herself — have suggested that Johnson is delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in because she would be the decisive vote on a discharge petition to release files related to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. However, Johnson has explicitly rejected this premise, stating that the delay in seating the Democrat “has nothing to do” with the petition.
Almost all Senate Democrats on Monday voted against a GOP-backed bipartisan funding measure to reopen the government — for the eleventh consecutive time.
Johnson’s and Mayes’ offices did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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