House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has taken the side of his Democratic predecessor, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), over far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on a key issue, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Friday.
Specifically, he is defending the right of the House to enact fines against those who defied mask mandates during the height of the COVID pandemic, as Greene goes to court to try to block them.
"When U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and two other Republicans decided to ask the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the fines they paid after refusing to wear masks on the House floor, they put the chamber’s new GOP leadership in a tough spot," reported Tia Mitchell. "And those leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, have chosen to defend the fines even as they say they don’t like the policy put into place by his predecessor. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, implemented an escalating fine system for mask infractions while the House was in session to limit the spread of COVID-19."
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"Attorneys for Johnson argue the constitutionality of the fines as part of their response to Greene and her co-defendants, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ralph Norman of South Carolina," said the report. "Earlier this month, the trio asked the Supreme Court to review their case after two lower courts upheld the fines."
Johnson was appointed speaker after weeks of chaos following the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from that role by a small group of far-right rebels in the GOP caucus. McCarthy is set to resign from Congress altogether at the end of the year, not carrying out his full term.
Greene, who started out her time in Congress as an outcast after being stripped of her committee assignments for endorsing social media calls to execute Democrats, gained power and influence in the House conference by allying herself with McCarthy, a move that led to her being expelled from the far-right House Freedom Caucus.