Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sued the US House of Representatives Tuesday for not administering the oath of office to representative-elect Adelita Grijalva. Grijalva won a special election to the House on September 23.
The complaint follows a letter from Mayes to Johnson demanding that Grijalva be sworn in. Mayes now asks the court to issue a declaratory judgement finding Grijalva to be a member of the House once she takes the oath. She further asks the court that if House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear in Grijalva, that anyone authorized to administer oaths under US, DC, or Arizona law be permitted to administer Grijalva her oath.
Speaker Johnson asserts that he has not sworn in Grijalva because the House is not currently in a regular legislative session. The House will not return until the government shutdown is over, according to the speaker. Because Grijalva won her election after the House was already out of session, Johnson argues that House procedure is to wait until the next session to swear in representatives-elect.
The complaint, filed in the US District Court of the District of Columbia, alleges that the failure to administer the oath of office violates Grijalva’s constitutional right to take office. The constitution requires representatives-elect to take an oath of office to serve their term. The complaint argues that the House cannot refuse to administer the oath to exclude a representative-elect who has been duly-elected and meets all the constitutional qualifications to hold office.
Critics of Johnson have accused him of refusing to swear in Grijalva to avoid a vote on a discharge petition, which would force a vote on the release of the Epstein files. Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khana introduced a bipartisan bill that would require the Department of Justice to release files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced New York financier who was arrested on sex trafficking charges and whose death has been the subject of debate and conspiracy. Massie moved for the bill to be discharged, a procedural step that would require the House to vote on the bill. The complaint alleges Johnson has refused to swear in Grijalva to prevent her from signing onto the petition whose vote would allow the petition to pass.
