Johnson refuses to swear in Grijalva, brushes aside Democrats' legal threat — for now

[Thiệu Ngô]

Democrats have threatened legal action if Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva isn't sworn in Friday after winning her special election more than three weeks ago.

By Nicholas Wu and Meredith Lee Hill

Speaker Mike Johnson is brushing off escalating threats of legal action from Democrats if Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is not sworn in during Friday afternoon’s House pro forma session.

“It’s a publicity stunt by a Democrat Attorney General in Arizona who sees a national moment and wants to call me out,” Johnson told reporters Friday of the state’s AG, Kris Mayes. “She has nothing whatsoever to do with what’s happening in Congress.”

Mayes has threatened litigation against Johnson for delaying the swearing in of Grijalva, the Democrat who won the special election more than three weeks ago to succeed her late father, Raúl Grijalva.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his members are backing Mayes up, telling reporters at a press conference Friday morning that “all options are on the table” for seating Grijalva. “As the Arizona Attorney General has made clear, expect swift and decisive legal action” if the swearing-in does not take place Friday afternoon, Jeffries added.

Democrats are expected to make another push to have her officially seated during the perfunctory pro forma session in the coming hours, though Republicans are likely to block the move as they have during previous attempts.

“I thought Hakeem was a better attorney than that,” Johnson fired back during his own news conference. The speaker reiterated he plans to swear in Grijalva once the House returns from its extended recess to resume conducting legislative business — but Johnson has said that will only happen once Senate Democrats agree to support House-passed legislation to end the ongoing government shutdown.

The House took its last floor vote nearly a month ago.