PHOENIX — Five weeks after Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva's landslide victory in a special election, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to stonewall the Tucson Democrat on her swearing-in ceremony.

The U.S. Constitution could offer a workaround: Grijalva might not need Johnson to swear her in. A notary public could do it.

“The Constitution itself simply says you must take an oath to defend the Constitution before you're sworn in, but it doesn't say who has to administer that oath,” Thomas Berry , director of constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, said in an interview from Washington, D.C.

“Anyone, even a notary public, is perfectly qualified to administer a binding oath.”

The relevant language is in Article VI of the Constitution.

"The Senators and Represe

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