WASHINGTON — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she is drafting a lawsuit against House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., over his refusal to swear in Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva during the government shutdown.
Mayes told CNN on Thursday night that her team was already preparing litigation against the Republican speaker, claiming he is violating the law by denying a duly elected lawmaker the right to be sworn into office. Instead, Mayes argued that Johnson was delaying her swearing-in because Grijalva has committed to sign a discharge petition that would force a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files in full.
“The law is very clear that no speaker of the House has the right to deny a state the seating of a member of Congress. No speaker has the right to basically violate the Constitution,” Mayes told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We are not messing around and the people of the state of Arizona hired me to be their lawyer and hired me to protect them.”
It will likely take a few days to draft and process any legal action against Johnson, meaning next week could be the earliest that litigation text is available. Specific charges are not yet known.
Johnson brushed off the threat on Friday, downplaying the impending lawsuit as a “publicity stunt” by the Arizona attorney general and other Democrats to distract from the shutdown.
“It’s a publicity stunt by a Democrat attorney general in Arizona who sees a national moment and wants to call me out,” Johnson said. “She has nothing whatsoever to do with what’s happening in Congress.”
But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., seemed bullish about the legal action. He sent a letter to Johnson on Thursday demanding he swear Grijalva into office when the House holds a pro forma session on Friday afternoon — later telling reporters that prompt legal action would follow if he didn’t do so.
“It’s shameful that she has not been sworn in because Speaker Johnson and House Republicans apparently want to continue to hide the Jeffrey Epstein files from the American people,” Jeffries said. “This has gone on now for weeks.”
Johnson pushed back against those comments, criticizing Jeffries by saying he “thought Hakeem was a better attorney than that.” Jeffries previously served as corporate lawyer and in-house legal counsel before being elected to Congress.
Instead, Johnson said that Grijalva could begin serving her constituents even without being formally sworn in. Grijalva told reporters earlier this week she had received the keys to her office, but the phone lines and internet connection were not yet working.
“If her Democrat colleagues and leadership have not informed her, you can be serving your constituents right now. You have an office,” Johnson said. “She can be handling their calls, directing them appropriately, and doing lots of important work right now. I don’t know if she is.”
Mayes 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, demanding Johnson swear her in by Friday or else “prompt legal action would follow.”
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.