Overview
- Adelita Grijalva won Arizona’s Sept. 23 special election but remains unsworn nearly a month later as the House has stayed out of regular session during the shutdown.
- Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a 17-page federal complaint in Washington arguing the Constitution requires the oath but does not confine its administration to the Speaker.
- Speaker Mike Johnson says he will wait to swear her in until legislative business resumes, calls the lawsuit “patently absurd,” and cites past recess precedents.
- Critics note Johnson previously swore in two Republicans during a pro forma period this year, pointing to an inconsistency the lawsuit highlights.
- The delay leaves more than 800,000 Arizonans without full representation and resources, and Democrats say Grijalva could provide the 218th signature on a bipartisan petition to force a vote on releasing Jeffrey Epstein–related records, a motive Johnson denies.