WASHINGTON — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is threatening legal action against House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if he doesn’t swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., this week.
Arizona’s secretary of state sent the House a certificate of Grijalva’s electoral win after finalizing results on Tuesday, meeting the legal threshold for her to be sworn into office, according to a letter Mayes sent Johnson. If he does not do so, Mayes said, he would face “prompt legal action.”
“With the House in possession of the certificate of election, it is now a simple ministerial duty to administer the oath of office,” the letter states. “The House and its leadership have acted (beyond your authority) and in violation of the Constitution.”
Mayes argued that no lawmaker has challenged Grijalva’s victory or has raised concerns about her qualifications — arguing Johnson is “without authority to refuse her oath and admission.”
Johnson has repeatedly said he does not have the ability to swear Grijalva in while the House is in recess, vowing to do so as soon as lawmakers return. The House has not been in session since Sept. 19, four days before Grijalva’s special election.
The speaker has kept the House out of session while the Senate stalls on passing legislation to reopen the government and continue federal spending — which Johnson has said must be done before he reconvenes.
“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 told the Deseret News in a statement.
Mayes pushed back, accusing Johnson of unfairly using Grijalva’s position as a bargaining chip in the government shutdown fight.
“You and your staff have provided ever-shifting, unsatisfactory, and sometimes absurd stories as to why Ms. Grijalva has not been sworn in,” Mayes wrote. “Arizona’s right to a full delegation, and the right of the residents of (Congressional District) 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.”
Mayes demanded that Johnson respond to the letter with an “assurance of when and where” her swearing-in will take place within two days. If he fails to do so, the attorney general warns she will be forced to “seek judicial relief.”
Despite not being sworn in, Grijalva has traveled to Capitol Hill multiple times to caucus with House Democrats. The Arizonan, who won her special election to replace her late father after he died earlier this year, said she only received keys to her office on Tuesday — exactly three weeks after being elected.
But her office lacks internet access or properly working phones, she said, and she won’t be able to hire a staff until she is officially a member.
Once Grijalva is sworn in, she is expected to sign on to an existing discharge petition compelling the Justice Department to publish all its investigative materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, making her the 218th and final signature needed to schedule a vote.
Once the 218 signatures are secured, the petition is immediately “frozen” and printed into the congressional record, according to House rules. The petition must then sit for seven legislative days before a signatory of the petition can request a floor vote.
Democrats have accused Johnson of withholding her swearing-in to avoid a vote on the Epstein files, an allegation the speaker has strongly denied.
Grijalva was expected to be sworn in on Sept. 29, but that was later delayed after Johnson canceled votes in the House as part of efforts to pressure Senate Democrats to approve the GOP-led spending resolution to keep the government open.
Although Johnson has maintained the House must be in session to perform the swearing-in, Grijalva and other Democrats pointed to the swearings-in of Republican Reps. Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis who were added to the House ranks on April 2 during a pro forma session, during which the House convenes during recess but does not involve voting on legislation. The House has met for three pro forma sessions since Grijalva’s electoral victory.
Johnson has said those were done because the pair had already invited their families to town and that the swearings-in were canceled at the last minute. Grijalva took issue with that.
“I mean, if that’s all it takes, my family can be here,” Grijalva said on Tuesday. “I can get them here.”