U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) holds a press conference weeks into the continuing U.S. government shutdown in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva filed a highly anticipated federal lawsuit on Tuesday over Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s refusal to administer the oath of office for nearly a month.
“On September 23, 2025, the voters in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District elected Adelita Grijalva to serve as their representative in the House, with 68.94% of the vote,” notes the complaint, filed in the district court in Washington, DC. “The election was canvassed and the certificate of election delivered to the House on October 14, 2025.”
Grijalva’s victory in the special election for her late father’s seat came shortly before a government shutdown. Johnson (La.) has used the ongoing shutdown as an excuse and denied that he is intentionally delaying her oath to avoid a vote on releasing files about deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a former friend of President Donald Trump.
“Speaker Mike Johnson is actively stripping the people of Arizona of one of their seats in Congress and disenfranchising the voters of Arizona’s 7th Congressional District in the process,” Mayes—who had threatened legal action last week—said Tuesday. “By blocking Adelita Grijalva from taking her rightful oath of office, he is subjecting Arizona’s 7th Congressional District to taxation without representation. I will not allow Arizonans to be silenced or treated as second-class citizens in their own democracy.”
.@AZAGMayes and I are going to court 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. pic.twitter.com/gzsQfW9Tq8
— Adelita Grijalva (@AdelitaForAZ) October 21, 2025
The court filing came a day after Johnson publicly suggested he would swear in Grijalva as soon as the shutdown ends, and fired back at her for repeatedly calling him out on social media. The speaker said that “instead of doing TikTok videos, she should be serving her constituents,” even though she lacks the resources to do so, because she hasn’t yet taken the oath of office.
“I don’t have constituents until I’m sworn in,” Grijalva told The Associated Press before the suit was filed, noting that the delay means she can’t sign a lease on office space in her district.
After the filing, she said in a statement that “Speaker Johnson’s obstruction has gone far beyond petty partisan politics—it’s an unlawful breach of our Constitution and the democratic process. The voters of Southern Arizona made their choice, yet for four weeks, he has refused to seat a duly elected member of Congress—denying Southern Arizona its constitutional representation.”
“I’m proud to join Attorney General Mayes in standing up for the more than 800,000 Arizonans who have been stripped of their voice in Congress,” Grijalva added. “Speaker Johnson cannot continue to disenfranchise an entire district and suppress their representation to shield this administration from accountability and block justice for the Epstein survivors.”
Welcoming the suit, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said that Mayes “isn’t playing around. She just filed a lawsuit against pedo protector Mike! Maybe now he’ll stop covering for predators and start giving the people of AZ-07 a voice in Congress.”