Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana speaks during a news conference outside his office at the Capitol on Oct. 2.

The way things usually work in this country — in most functioning democracies, for that matter — is that when a person is elected to fill a vacant post, they take office pretty much immediately. But that fundamental democratic norm has been, like so many others, suddenly suspended.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to allow a duly elected representative to take her seat. And it seems hardly a coincidence that the congresswoman-elect, Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, has promised to cast the deciding vote on a measure to release the Justice Department’s files on the investigation of sex trafficking by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

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The delay comes amid efforts by President Donald J. Trump’s administration to keep much of the Epstein files secret. Mr. Trump’s name reportedly appears a number of times........

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