Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has filed a lawsuit to force House Speaker Mike Johnson to swear in an elected Democratic House representative, a move that is likely to trigger a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Mayes filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Adelita Grijalva after Johnson has refused to seat her a month on from her win at a special election to fill the congressional seat her father vacated when he died.
Grijalva is the 218th and final signature required on a discharge petition urging the Justice Department to release files related to the late convicted sex offender.
“Speaker Johnson wishes to delay seating Ms. Grijalva to prevent her from signing a discharge petition that would force a vote on the release of the Epstein files and/or to strengthen his hand in the ongoing budget and appropriations negotiations,” the lawsuit said.
The Louisiana Republican has repeatedly said the delay has nothing to do with the Epstein files vote and that he is “anxious” to seat Grijalva as soon as the House returns to session following the government shutdown, which has entered the 21-day mark.
Grijalva said she and Mayes were suing “to ensure that 800,000+ Arizonans in AZ-07 are no longer silenced.”
“@SpeakerJohnson’s obstruction has gone far beyond petty partisan politics – it’s an unlawful breach of our Constitution and the democratic process,” the Representative-elect said Tuesday in a post on X.
“Speaker Mike Johnson is actively stripping the people of Arizona of one of their seats in Congress and disenfranchising the voters of Arizona’s seventh Congressional district in the process,” added Mayes in a statement.
“By blocking Adelita Grijalva from taking her rightful oath of office, he is subjecting Arizona’s seventh Congressional district to taxation without representation,” Mayes continued. “I will not allow Arizonans to be silenced or treated as second-class citizens in their own democracy.”
Johnson accused Mayes of “trying to get some publicity” when she threatened the lawsuit last week.
Grijalva has taken to social media to protest her case, recording a video outside of Johnson’s office, demanding he seat her and reporting that the House Women’s Caucus was demonstrating on her behalf.
“Instead of doing TikTok videos, she should be serving her constituents,” Johnson hit back this week. “She could be taking their calls. She could be directing them, trying to help them through the crisis that the Democrats have created by shutting down the government.”
