WASHINGTON

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Democratic Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the US House of Representatives, accusing Speaker Mike Johnson of unlawfully blocking Grijalva’s swearing-in after her September election victory.

“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,” Mayes said in a statement, calling the move “taxation without representation.”

“I will not allow Arizonans to be silenced or treated as second-class citizens in their own democracy,” she added.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Washington, DC, argues that the Constitution does not give the Speaker authority to delay seating a duly elected member. It seeks a declaratory judgment allowing Grijalva to be sworn in by “any person authorized by law to administer oaths.”

Johnson has defended his decision, saying he is “following the Pelosi precedent” by waiting until Congress reconvenes, referring to a past instance when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed swearing in new members during a congressional recess.

He added that Grijalva won her race after the House “had already gone out of session,” he told reporters Monday, adding that he will administer the oath “on the first day we come back.”

The complaint claims Johnson’s refusal aims to prevent a vote on releasing records related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and to bolster Johnson’s leverage in budget negotiations.

Grijalva won her Sept. 23 special election with nearly 69% of the vote.