Nevada Supreme Court rules in Lombardo’s favor in ethics case

Gov. Joe Lombardo received a court win Wednesday when the Nevada Supreme Court sided with him in his efforts to dismiss sanctions against him for an ethics violation over using his Clark County sheriff’s badge in campaign materials.

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the District Court was incorrect when it dismissed Lombardo’s petition seeking to overturn the ethics sanctions against him and ordered that the case be sent back to the lower court for consideration.

Wednesday’s ruling is the latest development in the ethics case against Lombardo in connection with his campaign for governor in 2022.

In 2023, Ross Armstrong, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Ethics, alleged Lombardo committed multiple ethics violations by using his sheriff’s badge and uniform during his gubernatorial campaign.

The Nevada Commission on Ethics ordered a hearing and found he did not violate a provision of the state’s Ethics in Government Law that states a public officer cannot use their position to grant themselves an unwarranted advantage, but it also ruled on a split vote that Lombardo had violated a provision that says a public officer shall not use governmental property to benefit a personal or pecuniary interest. The commission censured Lombardo and imposed a $20,000 fine.

Lombardo filed a petition for judicial review to dismiss the sanctions and asserted constitutional and statute-based challenges to the decision. But before the merits of his argument could be heard, the District Court dismissed his petition for failing to serve the petition to the attorney general’s office within 45 days.

The governor sent the notice to the attorney general’s office after the 45-day deadline and requested an extension of time to serve the office of the attorney general, but the District Court denied it.

On Wednesday, the Nevada Supreme Court sided with Lombardo, who had argued that it was unnecessary to send the petition to the attorney general’s office because the office originally recused itself from the case, citing a potential conflict of interest.

The justices stated that the 45-day window to serve a petition may be extended upon a showing of good cause. They also said that sending the notice to the office of the attorney general served no purpose because the Commission on Ethics had its own counsel, and once the office of attorney general was served with the petition, it did not make an appearance in the case.

Lombardo’s attorney declined to comment on the ruling, and Armstrong did not return a request for comment.

NV Supreme Court Ruling by hill23602 on Scribd

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.