The Schumer Shutdown is rolling into its fourth week, and Democrats are still whining about Republicans' refusal to add trillions to what was a clean continuing resolution. If Democrats' recalcitrance continues, this shutdown may well be one for the history books.
Now there's a new wrinkle. In Arizona, there has been a special election to replace Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who recently passed away after a fight with cancer. His daughter, Democrat Adelita Grijalva, won the election. But the rules of the House of Representatives don't allow for swearing-in during a shutdown.
So the State of Arizona is suing the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-LA), to try to force the issue.
"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," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said 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. I will not allow Arizonans to be silenced or treated as second-class citizens in their own democracy."
Johnson dismissed the lawsuit as a bid to get "national publicity" in comments to reporters earlier this week and on Tuesday evening.
I'll fight back the urge to point out to Kris Mayes that the United States is a constitutional republic, not a democracy.
Speaker Johnson shot back a quick reply:
"I think it’s patently absurd. We run the House. She has no jurisdiction. We’re following the precedent," Johnson said in response to the state attorney general. "She’s looking for national publicity, apparently she’s gotten some of it, but good luck with that."
Yes, she's gotten some national publicity with what looks to be some grandstanding. But to what end?
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One has to ask, "What is Kris Mayes, at the end of the day, trying to achieve?" I won't speculate as to the Speaker's comments about jurisdiction. But does the Arizona Attorney General not understand that the House, like the rest of the federal government, is shut down? That Rep-Elect Grijalva can't be doing the business of the people of her district if she were sworn in, because there's no business being done?
It's belaboring the obvious to note that it's Senate Democrats, not Speaker Johnson, who are holding all this up. The House passed a clean CR. It's sitting in the Senate now, where they have had multiple votes, and the Senate has not been able to move it, because Democrats are insisting on trillions in spending, including, yes, health care benefits for illegal aliens.
The Speaker also has noted that he's following precedent set by none other than former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA):
Johnson, in response to Democrats' criticism, has repeatedly pointed out that the House was not in session when Grijalva won her election.
He's also argued that he was following precedent set by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who waited 25 days to swear in Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., in 2021.
Letlow had won a special election to replace her husband, Rep.-elect Luke Letlow, R-La., who died during the COVID-19 pandemic before he could be sworn into office in January 2021.
Maybe this lawsuit would be more effective if it were directed at Chuck Schumer.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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