Have we so normalized governmental fraudulence that it’s acceptable for the Speaker of the House to be casual about swearing in elected members of Congress?
Apparently, the answer is yes.
Adelita Grijalva was elected to Congress from Arizona’s 7th Congressional District almost two weeks ago. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has opted to ignore that fact. Arizona’s first elected Latina member of Congress is not yet a member of Congress, because Johnson does not choose to do his job.
Johnson has employed the fig leaf of waiting for official certification — a step he didn’t bother with in the last several special elections. It’s hardly as though the outcome of the election is in any doubt. Grijalva was elected with 69% of the District 7 vote.
Yes, Congress is shut down. But for more than a week after her election, Congress was open for business — and the Southern Arizona citizens of District 7 were without representation. And now, Johnson’s refusal to swear in Grijalva means that for however long the shutdown continues, those citizens will be without constituent services.
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Of course, there’s absolutely no reason Grijalva can’t be sworn in during the shutdown. In fact, all of Congress was sworn in during a shutdown in January of 2019. Recently, two Republican special election winners were sworn in 24 hours after their election, when the House was not in regular session.
All of this hints at what’s really going on: Johnson is desperately trying to do the President’s bidding and avoid losing a discharge petition vote to bring a bill demanding the release of the Epstein files to the House floor, where it is sure to pass.
As things stand, Grijalva represents the pivotal 218th vote, ensuring the success of the discharge petition.
So, in an effort to cover up for the President — avoiding the disclosure of what may be the key details of a pedophile ring centered on a man whose friendship with Trump is well-known — Johnson has deprived District 7 of its representation.
If there is a more eloquent example of the moral rot of this administration and this Congress than Johnson’s cynical choice to ignore his responsibilities, we don’t know what it could be.
We believe Johnson’s failure to swear Grijalva in amounts to a violation of his oath of office. Every time the government crosses another odious line, and doesn’t face repercussions, it encourages more flouting of the law, oaths of office and the Constitution itself.
This Congress has already voted to put hundreds of thousands of Arizonans’ healthcare in jeopardy. It has permitted, without a word of dissent, many millions of dollars of federal funding it had already approved for myriad Southern Arizona uses, from health research to public works, to be clawed back by the President.
So this is not the first recent Congressional action — or inaction — that directly affects us here. But nevertheless, this latest insult should feel personal to the voters in Grijalva’s district and across the region.
A letter to Johnson from the mayors of eight Southern Arizona cities, including Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, said it very well:
“Every day that Congresswoman-elect Grijalva’s swearing-in is postponed is a day that 800,000 Arizonans are denied their full voice in the People’s House.”
The protests should be loud, and long enough to carry into the ballot box for the 2026 midterms.
