https://www.12news.com/article/news/politics/does-adelita-grijalva-need-mike-johnson-swear-her-in/75-22b46d7c-26f8-4d8b-819e-4e2b2c2952ce

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.”

EDIT: Note that while I don’t know whether legislators have always followed the convention for who administers their oath, I’m pretty sure I remember reading that Presidents have been sworn in by other people.

kagis

Ah hah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_president_of_the_United_States

While the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the presidential oath of office, it has been administered by the chief justice beginning with John Adams, except following the death of a sitting president. George Washington was sworn into office during his first inauguration, on April 30, 1789, by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston.[5][6] William Cranch, chief judge of the U.S. Circuit Court, administered the oath to Millard Fillmore on July 10, 1850, when he became president after the death of Zachary Taylor.[7] Upon being informed of Warren Harding’s death, while visiting his family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., a notary public.[8][9] Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath of office to Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963; the only time a woman has administered the oath of office. Overall, the presidential oath has been administered by 15 chief justices (one of whom—William Howard Taft—was also a former president), one associate justice, four federal judges, two New York state judges, and one notary public.

Yeah, I was remembering LBJ being sworn in. And one was actually sworn in by a notary public, so…

EDIT3: Actually, I think I remember the Coolidge one too. There’s a photograph somewhere of the Air Force One swearing-in, if I recall, and some drawing or something of Coolidge being sworn in by candlelight.

kagis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Lyndon_B._Johnson

On Air Force One, 22 November 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office as President of the United States following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy earlier in the day. Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff at bottom left holds a dictaphone to record the event. Left to Right: Mac Kilduff, Judge Sarah T. Hughes, Jack Valenti, Albert Thomas, Marie Fehmer (behind Thomas), Lady Bird Johnson, Chief Curry, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Evelyn Lincoln (eyeglasses only visible above LBJ’s shoulder), Homer Thornberry (in shadow, partially obscured by LBJ), Roy Kellerman (partially obscured by Thornberry), Lem Johns (partially obscured by Mrs. Kennedy), Jacqueline Kennedy, Pamela Tunure (behind Brooks), Jack Brooks, Bill Moyers (mostly obscured by Brooks).

I think this is the Coolidge image I remember. Apparently it was an oil lamp, not a candle:

https://www.politico.com/story/2011/08/coolidge-assumes-the-presidency-aug-3-1923-060502