Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
House Speaker Mike Johnson has officially been sued by the Arizona State Attorney General for his delays to seat Representative Elect Adelita Grijalva. Grijalva was elected in September, and Speaker Johnson’s reason for not seating her was the government shutdown. According to CNN Kris Mayes and other attorneys involved in the case wrote in the filing that, “This case is about whether someone duly elected to the House, may be denied her rightful office simply because the Speaker has decided to keep the House out of ‘regular session.’”
Speaker Johnson’s response was to say that he was following the “Pelosi Precedent.” Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi would wait to swear in specially elected representatives until the next legislative session after a period of recess. “So, I will administer the oath to her on the first day we come back [to] legislative session, I’m willing and anxious to do that.” Speaker Johnson made it clear that he wants to swear her in, but he won’t do it until the legislation is back in session. According to MSNBC, Speaker Johnson could call the House back into session during the shutdown at any time and swear Grijalva in, but he has yet to do so.
Grijalva has been trying to schedule a meeting with Speaker Johnson to get sworn in, but since she won her election 28 days ago, she has not spoken to him once. Additionally, the lawsuit accuses Speaker Johnson of delaying her seating as an attempt to block a petition that would result in the House forcing a vote on releasing what have been dubbed “The Epstein Files” which are a series of records relating to Jeffery Epstein and Epstein’s Island. They also accuse Speaker Johnson of using the delay to “strengthen his hand in the ongoing budget and appropriations negotiations,” so says CNN. Mayes’ ultimate ask is that the judge decides that if Speaker Johnson continues to refuse to seat Grijalva, that another Representative will be allowed to do it instead as the refusal is harming Arizona’s representation in their interests as the shutdown continues.
Grijalva’s constituents are not thrilled with Speaker Johnson as they had a tremendous amount of respect for the late Congressman Raul Grijalva, Adelita Grijalva’s father. 77-year-old Belinda Romero especially respected the late Grijalva for how he helped her during his time in Congress. Romero told MSNBC that “I went to high school with him, I had problems with my mother’s Social Security and railroad retirement, and he did that in a couple of days. He handled that situation. I had problems with my son’s unemployment that they didn’t want to pay him, and he handled it.” Her constituents have made it clear that they do not accept Speaker Johnson’s reasons for not seating Grijalva in the House.
The House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies, a Democrat from New York wrote Speaker Johnson a letter telling him to swear Grijalva in even if it’s in a short session as he’s done for Republican elects in the past. MSNBC quotes the letter as saying, “In April, Republican Representatives Jimmy Patronis [of Florida] and Randy Fine [of Florida] were sworn in during a pro forma session less than 24 hours after their election. The decision to seat right-wing Republicans with record speed, while denying a newly elected Democrat the opportunity to serve is an unacceptable disgrace.” Many disagree with Speaker Johnson for denying a Rep-Elect the necessary actions for her to do her job and his reasons for that delay.
Leave a Reply