Copyright Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points: Adelita Grijalva and Attorney General Kris Mayes accuse US House Speaker Mike Johnson of illegally delaying swearing-in. Though elected to Congress, she is currently unable to access federal databases and email systems. Grijalva says she is unable to represent constituents because of the delay Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva and Attorney General Kris Mayes filed suit on Oct. 21 against the U.S. House of Representatives for failing to swear her in and provide her full access despite her election last month and the certification of results by state officials. In the 17-page complaint, the pair, both Democrats, accuse Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of arbitrarily — and illegally — not seating her where she can represent her 813,000 constituents in the district that stretches from Douglas and Nogales through much of Tucson, west to Yuma and all the way into the Phoenix suburb of Buckeye. And they want her sworn in as soon as possible. There was no immediate response from Johnson. But the speaker has repeatedly insisted there is no such requirement because the House is currently not in session. And when previously asked about the threat of a lawsuit, he called it “yet another Democrat politician from Arizona is trying to get publicity.” And Johnson said he will swear her in — once the House goes back into session. The only thing is, Johnson has refused to bring the House back because the government is shut down while the Senate debates a House-passed “continuing resolution” for funding. While Republicans control the Senate, as they do the House, Senate rules require 60 votes for approval, allowing minority Democrats to block the move while they seek changes to funding for health care. Lawyers for Grijalva and Mayes argue that Johnson’s excuse, claiming Grijalva can’t be sworn in simply because he won’t bring members back for a regular session, lacks legal validity. “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,” the lawsuit reads. “Fortunately, the Constitution does not give that authority to the speaker — or anyone else,” the lawyers argue. “Rather, the Constitution leaves the House without authority to exclude any person, duly elected by his constituents, who meets all the requirements for membership expressly prescribed in the Constitution.” There is no question but that, at some point, Grijalva will be sworn in. She was chosen at a special election called following the death of her father, Raul Grijalva, who had represented the congressional district for more than two decades. She defeated Republican Daniel Butierez with nearly 69% of the vote. Johnson has insisted he is following precedent set before he became speaker. But he also admitted that, at his direction, two Republicans chosen at special elections earlier this year were sworn in at pro-forma — informal — House sessions. Johnson, however, has insisted that was different. Grijalva and Mayes, for their part, are telling the judge there may be a political reason for the delay. They said they believe that Johnson wants to prevent Grijalva from signing a “discharge petition” to bring a bipartisan measure to the House floor for the Department of Justice to publicly disclose “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” it has related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein or his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. There are currently 217 signatures on the petition. It needs 218, with Grijalva saying she will be that person. Johnson has denied that it’s a factor. “This has zero to do with Epstein,” he told reporters. Whatever the motive, the lawsuit asks the judge to issue an order that Grijalva be “deemed a member of the House of Representatives once she has taken the oath prescribed by law.” And it also asks the judge to direct that if Johnson won’t act, she be sworn in “by any person authorized by law to administer oaths.” The lawsuit comes just a day after Johnson criticized Grijalva for complaining about his refusal to swear her in, stating that there are things she can be doing. “Instead of doing TikTok videos, she can be serving her constituents,” the speaker told reporters in Washington. “She could be taking their calls,” he said. “She can be directing them, trying to help them through the crisis that the Democrats have created by shutting down the government.” And Johnson said it’s not his fault if Grijalva lacks access to what she says she needs. “When a rep-elect comes in on a special election in particular, it is up to the leaders of her party … to give them guidance and direction,” he said. That includes introducing the person to the chief administrative officer of the House, who can guide them on setting up computers and obtaining the necessary passwords. “That call apparently was never made by Rep. Grijalva,” Johnson said. And he said all that was being sorted out and “she’ll be able to use her computers now.” He also said she has 16 staffers. “They need to be taking calls,” Johnson said. But Grijalva told Capitol Media Services that what the speaker is saying “is completely untrue.” She said she did go to the administrative office. “They asked us for a list of employees that we were going to onboard who, still, coincidentally, have not been onboarded,” Grijalva said. What Johnson does not understand, she said, is there’s more involved for her and her staffers to actually do any work. Consider, Grijalva said, when there’s a request for help from a constituent. “There is a privacy act waiver, a consent form, that a constituent has to fill out in order for the office to advocate on their behalf,” she said. “That is in the system, the federal system, that we don’t have access to.” And it’s even more basic than that. “I can’t do constituent services without being sworn in,” Grijalva said. All that would be resolved once she is sworn in. What’s been happening in the interim, Grijalva said, is small movements that still don’t create a fully functioning office. For example, the placard with her name went up on a door, though it took time for her to get the keys. And there are now computers and phone lines. But Grijalva said it’s unclear if she can access federal databases. And she still doesn’t have a government email account to take complaints and messages. And there’s more. Without being sworn in, it still leaves her without a budget. And Grijalva said there are real effects to that. For example, there were district offices that were rented by her father. On Sept. 19, all of the computers, phones, everything was wiped,” she said. And the leases ended four days later. “We don’t have a budget in order to enter into a lease,” Grijalva said, leaving her to work out of her campaign office. “I still don’t have a budget,” she continued. Nor does she have a travel card, meaning she is using frequent flier miles for her trips from Tucson to Washington to try to get things set up. And Grijalva said she’s precluded from using campaign funds for the expenses of being an elected official. What Grijalva says she’s left with is Johnson “piece-mealing out” the things she should have by now, given that she won the Sept. 23 special election and the results were certified on Oct. 14. “You’ve given me a car to drive with no engine, with no gas, with no tires,” she said. And she said that, right now, her biggest need is to help constituents affected by the shutdown. “These are the people who elected me to work,” she said. The situation as of Oct. 21 was that anyone who calls the Washington office, which was occupied by her father, gets a recorded message telling people if they need help they should “call their other Arizona officials” to deal with problems or questions. It also says anyone who has a question about “casework,” meaning an ongoing issue, can call the Tucson office. As it turns out, there is a working phone number in Tucson — but it’s for her father’s district office. In fact, it still answers with a recording of his voice, telling people they can leave a message. The bottom line, Grijalva said, is that she believes Johnson, while defending the decision to not swear her in while the House is in recess, just doesn’t understand the problem. “Maybe I should show up at one of his press conferences and say, ‘You want to go do a tour so I can better explain to you why what you’re saying is completely misleading and gaslight, because you make it appear that I’m choosing not to work,”’ she said. While Grijalva clearly has standing to sue to claim the seat to which she was legally elected, Mayes told Capitol Media Services she does, too. “I’m representing the people of Arizona who are now down one representative and, more specifically, representing the 813,000 in CD 7 who are now being taxed without representation,” she said. It is less clear how quickly there can be a ruling. “We would like a judge to take this up quickly,” Mayes said. “And we’ll be prosecuting the case as vigorously and quickly as we possibly can.” Mayes also said there was a conscious decision to sue the House – and not Johnson – to demand Grijalva be seated. She said that avoids any argument that Johnson, by virtue of his office, is immune from lawsuits.
