Congressman Jim Jordan has filed for a restraining order against Representative Jasmine Crockett, claiming that her “persistent presence in the same legislative chamber” constitutes harassment and has made his job “very difficult.” The unprecedented legal move has thrown the House of Representatives into chaos and raised constitutional questions about whether lawmakers can be legally barred from performing their duties.
According to documents filed in D.C. Superior Court, Jordan alleges that Crockett has “willfully and repeatedly appeared in the same room” as him on at least 47 occasions since January 2023. “She’s always there,” Jordan stated in his filing. “When I go to committee meetings, she’s there. When I go to floor votes, she’s there. When I try to eat lunch in the congressional cafeteria, somehow she’s also there. It’s like she works here or something.”
Journalist Joan Berro, who obtained the filing through a public records request, called the case “legally fascinating and practically absurd.” Berro noted that Jordan’s complaint includes a detailed log of every time Crockett made eye contact with him, which he claims was “intimidating and also made me forget my talking points.”
Legal analyst Reno Borja believes the restraining order raises serious separation of powers questions. “If a congressman can file a restraining order against another congressman for doing her job, what’s next?” Borja asked. “Can Mitch McConnell get a restraining order against Chuck Schumer for being Majority Leader? Can Marjorie Taylor Greene file against the entire Democratic caucus for existing? We’re looking at the judicialization of legislative discomfort.”
Constitutional scholar Jon Arbeor, interviewed at the Capitol Hill Golden Corral while his ferret conducted a security sweep of the dessert bar, calculated the mathematical implications of Jordan’s complaint. “If you take the 47 alleged encounters, multiply by the 435 members of the House, divide by the probability that Jordan actually knows where the House chamber is—which my research suggests is 0.3—you get a figure that suggests Jordan should actually be filing restraining orders against 1,305 people, which is mathematically impossible since there are only 535 members of Congress.”
Crockett has not responded to the filing, though sources say she was last seen “still doing her job” and “not actually harassing anyone, just legislating.”
