The Arizona Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. House of Representatives for its refusal to swear in Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, requesting that, if House Speaker Mike Johnson fails to do so, someone else proceed with the swearing-in.
“This case concerns whether a person duly elected to the House of Representatives, who unquestionably meets the constitutional qualifications for the office, can be denied the office to which they are entitled simply because the Speaker has decided to keep the House out of ‘regular session,'” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote in the complaint, reviewed by Europa Press.
In this regard, she emphasized that the Constitution does not allow the speaker of the House to thwart the appointment of an elected representative who meets all the necessary qualifications, such as Grijalva, who was elected a month ago with nearly 69 percent of the Arizona vote.
Mayes indicated that “the Constitution does not specify who must take the oath, only that Representatives must administer it” and argued that Johnson cannot invoke his legal obligation to administer the oath “to arbitrarily delay a Member’s inauguration when there is no dispute about the election or qualifications, nor any practical reason why they cannot take the oath.”
Furthermore, the prosecutor emphasized that the Speaker of the House “has been on Capitol Hill during this time and has not identified any reason” to avoid the procedure. Instead, she stated that she wants to delay Grijalva’s inauguration “to prevent him from signing a release request that would force a vote on the release of (convicted sex offender Jeffrey) Epstein’s files or to strengthen his leverage in ongoing budget and appropriations negotiations”—alluding to the Senate’s stalemate over funding legislation that would allow the federal government to reopen after a three-week shutdown.
“The State (of Arizona) and Ms. Grijalva ask this Court to enter a declaratory judgment providing that (1) Ms. Grijalva shall be deemed a member of the House of Representatives upon taking the oath prescribed by law; and (2) if President Johnson has not administered the oath, the oath may be administered to Ms. Grijalva by any person authorized by law to do so,” Mayes argued.
