Arizona Attorney General sues the House over failure to swear-in Grijalva

Arizona's Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes and Arizona Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva sued the House of Representatives on Tuesday over its failure to seat the recently elected lawmaker.

The lawsuit fulfills a threat Mayes made to House Speaker Mike Johnson last week over the delay. Grijalva won a special election last month.

"This case is about whether someone duly elected to the House – who indisputably meets the constitutional qualifications of the office – may be denied her rightful office simply because the Speaker has decided to keep the House out of “regular session," Mayes argued in the lawsuit. 

"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," she continued. "Fortunately, the Constitution does not give that authority to the Speaker—or anyone else."  

Critics of Johnson have accused him of not swearing Grijalva in because she would give Democrats enough support to force a vote on a bipartisan resolution that would require the Justice Department to release files regarding Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnson has denied that the delay in swearing Grijalva in has to do with Epstein. He said that the swearing-in will take place when the shutdown ends and the House returns to session. 

The lawsuit comes as the House remains on recess from Washington, D.C., during the government shutdown. The House has already passed a continuing resolution that would keep the government open until Nov. 21, but the Senate has failed so far to pass it. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.