Arizona’s attorney general has sued the US House of Representatives over Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to seat an Arizona member of Congress – who was elected in late September – due to the government shutdown.
“This case is about whether someone duly elected to the House,” Kris Mayes and other attorneys wrote in the filing Tuesday, “may be denied her rightful office simply because the Speaker has decided to keep the House out of ‘regular session.’”
Johnson has said he is “following the Pelosi precedent” in not administering the oath of office to Adelita Grijalva, noting that when Republicans had won similar special elections, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi waited until lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill following periods of recess.
In a news conference Monday, Johnson said that Grijalva won her race after the House “had already gone out of session.”
“So I will administer the oath to her on the first day we come back [to] legislative session,” Johnson said. “I’m willing and anxious to do that.”
The lawsuit argues that “the Constitution does not give that authority to the Speaker—or anyone else” to delay Grijalva’s appointment.
The lawsuit accuses Johnson of delaying Grijalva’s swearing in because he is attempting to prevent a petition that would force a vote in the House on releasing records around Jeffrey Epstein as well as “strengthen his hand in the ongoing budget and appropriations negotiations.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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