The Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled in favor of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s effort to dismiss sanctions imposed by the state’s ethics commission, sending the case back to a lower court.

It’s the latest development in the yearslong saga related to Lombardo’s use of his Clark County sheriff’s uniform and badge while running for governor in 2022. The high court’s Wednesday ruling does not absolve Lombardo of wrongdoing, but it opens the door for a dismissal of the case down the line.

The Nevada Commission on Ethics in 2023 censured and fined Lombardo $20,000 for violating state ethics law prohibiting public officials from using government property or equipment "to benefit a significant personal or pecuniary interest.”

However, Lombardo sued to dismiss the sanctions months later, challenging the commission itself for violating the state Constitution's separation of powers doctrine because some of its members are appointed by the Legislature. But a Carson City judge dismissed the lawsuit last year because of a technicality, leading Lombardo’s lawyers to appeal that ruling, and eventually receive a favorable decision from the state’s highest court.

The lower court’s dismissal of the case centered on the fact that Lombardo’s attorneys failed to  serve the lawsuit to the Nevada Attorney General’s Office within 45 days of notifying the ethics commission of its intent to appeal the sanctions.

But Lombardo’s lawyers argued that serving the attorney general’s office was unnecessary because it had recused itself from the case because ofover a potential conflict of interest (Lombardo had already been sworn in as governor by that time). 

In its Wednesday decision, the Nevada Supreme Court agreed, ruling that serving the attorney general’s office “served no purpose” because it had recused itself from the case. Lombardo’s effort to dismiss the sanctions will now return to the Carson City District Court.

A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. 

Ross Armstrong, the executive director of the ethics commission, declined to comment Thursday because the case is still ongoing.

The $20,000 fine assessed to Lombardo — $5,000 for each campaign photo where he donned his sheriff’s equipment — marked the third-largest penalty ever imposed by the ethics commission, which is responsible for enforcing Nevada’s ethics laws for local and most state employees or elected officials outside the legislative and judicial branches. 

The commission approved the fine on a 4-2 vote, but it was significantly less than the request from its counsel for an unprecedented $1.6 million fine. That larger proposed sanction was calculated by imposing a fine for each time that Lombardo’s campaign posted an image, published a video or used imagery of Lombardo wearing his uniform, badge or gun in campaign materials.