Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) filed a lawsuit Tuesday over GOP leaders’ refusal to seat a newly elected Democratic lawmaker.
The suit asks a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to declare Adelita Grijalva a member of the House and allow someone else to administer the oath if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) won’t do so.
Mayes’s office wrote in the complaint that the case is about whether someone duly elected to the House may be denied their “rightful office,” only because the speaker has decided to keep the chamber out of “regular session.”
“If the Speaker were granted that authority, he could thwart the peoples’ choice of who should represent them in Congress by denying them representation for a significant portion of the two-year term provided by the Constitution,” the suit reads.
“Fortunately, the Constitution does not give that authority to the Speaker—or anyone else,” it continues.
A former county supervisor, Grijalva won a special election last month to fill the seat held by her late father, former Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.). The district spans most of Arizona’s southern border, part of Tucson.
Johnson has repeatedly defended his move not to seat Grijalva, saying he’s just following a long-held House tradition of swearing in new members only during regular sessions.
The speaker has canceled votes during the shutdown, and Johnson says he’ll call the House back to Washington and immediately seat Grijalva when Democrats help to reopen the government.
“I will administer the oath to her, I hope on the first day we come back, of the legislative session,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “I’m willing and anxious to do that. In the meantime, instead of doing TikTok videos, she should be serving her constituents.”
In recent days, House Democrats have also warned that swift legal action could follow if Grijalva is not seated.
“This has gone on now for weeks,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol on Friday. “And so it’s my expectation that, if she is not sworn in today — during the pro forma session today — as the Arizona attorney general has made clear, expect swift and decisive legal action.”
Grijalva said in a statement that Johnson’s “obstruction” is long past “petty partisan politics.”
“It’s an unlawful breach of our Constitution and the democratic process,” she said. “The voters of Southern Arizona made their choice, yet for four weeks, he has refused to seat a duly elected Member of Congress – denying Southern Arizona its constitutional representation.”
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