As Johnson delays, Grijalva sues to be seated in the House

By MEGAN MINEIRO

Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., who was elected almost exactly a month ago, filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this week demanding that Speaker Mike Johnson or another government official swear her in to Congress.

Grijalva easily won a Sept. 23 special election to fill the seat left vacant in March by the death of her father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who served for more than two decades in Congress.

But Johnson, who has kept the House in recess for more than a month during the government shutdown, has not sworn her in, even though he has had multiple opportunities to do so during brief congressional sessions over the past several weeks.

“It’s so antidemocratic,” Grijalva said in an interview Wednesday. “The job of the speaker is to be the speaker for the House. Not for Democrats or Republicans. And I think it’s very clear that if I was a Republican, I would be sworn in already.”

As a member of Congress, she would narrow the already slim majority that Republican hold in the House, making it even harder for Johnson to pass bills if only a handful of members of his party are opposed.

Further, Grijalva has pledged to add her name — providing the last necessary signature — to a bipartisan petition to force a vote on a measure demanding that the Trump administration release files on the investigation of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Johnson has denied that his refusal to seat Grijalva is tied to any desire on the part of the White House and Republican congressional leaders to avoid the vote on the Epstein files.

The lawsuit represents an escalation in the Democratic pressure campaign to have Grijalva sworn in. She was joined in the suit by Kris Mayes, the attorney general of Arizona and a Democrat. In a statement, Mayes said, “Speaker Mike Johnson is actively stripping the people of Arizona of one of their seats in Congress and disenfranchising the voters of Arizona’s seventh congressional district in the process.”

Filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the suit argues that there is no legal basis for the delay.

Grijalva “indisputably meets the constitutional qualifications” to take office, the suit says, and Johnson has no authority to “arbitrarily delay” her ability to carry out her duties as a member of Congress, including signing petitions, sponsoring bills and providing constituent services.

The lawsuit requests that a federal judge order that Grijalva be sworn in by Johnson or by “any person authorized by law to administer oaths.”

A judge or member of Congress could swear in Grijalva, a rare but not unprecedented alternative found in past cases when representatives-elect were absent from Washington, but one that requires approval through a House-passed resolution.

The lawsuit asserts that the speaker “has not identified any reason that he (or a designee) is unable to administer the oath” to Grijalva.

It also notes that Johnson swore in two Republicans this year while the House was not in session for legislative business. Those representatives, Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, both of Florida, were seated within 24 hours of winning special elections in April.

The speaker’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he has said that Grijalva’s situation is different from that of the Florida representatives because she was elected while the House was out of session. However, there is no such distinction in the law or the rules of the chamber.

Without the keys to unlock the office her father once used, a budget or access to any materials she would need to do the job for which she was elected, Grijalva has worked from a conference room on Capitol Hill while she waits to assume her post.

She called the speaker’s delay in swearing her in “obstruction” that has left her constituents without a voice in Washington.

“Before, I was just sort of incredulous — like I can’t believe I’m in this situation — and every day that passes, I’m just getting more angry,” Grijalva said Wednesday.

“Let’s do it now,” she added. “I have a Bible.”