Phil Lyman's last-ditch effort to undo his election loss hits another roadblock

Phil Lyman has suffered yet another loss in his bizarre legal effort to undo his loss to Spencer Cox in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

On Friday, Justice Neil Gorsuch denied Lyman's request for an emergency injunction in the case that sought to stop the state from certifying Cox as the winner of November's election. Gorsuch's order was issued without comment. Lyman has no legal avenues remaining to prevent Cox from being sworn in for a second term as governor next month.

Lyman ran as a write-in candidate for governor in November's election, where he finished in third place with just over 13% of the vote.

He declined to comment when contacted by Utah Political Watch.

Lyman has been raising challenges to Cox's candidacy since it became clear he was on track to lose the primary election in June.

• He has claimed Cox did not legitimately qualify for the primary election by gathering signatures. Lyman and his allies submitted a rash of open records request seeking access to Cox's signature packets, but those requests were denied. Lyman sued to force the state to turn over the signature packets, but a judge rejected that effort.
• Lyman tried leveraging his position as a state Representative to obtain election data that state law said was off limits. After a legislative audit concluded there were problems with how signatures on candidate petitions were verified, Lyman falsely claimed that the audit revealed Cox did not submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The audit did not make any determination about whether Cox had submitted the required signatures, but said he would have had plenty of time to gather more signatures before the deadline if he had.
• In October, Lyman asked his Republican colleagues in the Legislature to convene an emergency session to force Cox off the November ballot because his primary election win was "illegitimate."

When those efforts did not bear fruit, Lyman asked the Utah Supreme Court to kick Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson out of office and off the ballot. When the Utah court rejected his challenge, he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

That appeal is still pending.

Lyman's case hinges on the supposition that the Utah Republican Party's internal rules should override state election laws. It claims that SB54, the 2014 law that allowed candidates to collect signatures to qualify for the primary ballot, violates the First Amendment rights of political parties to choose their nominees.

Lyman, who is representing himself, argues that since he won enough of the delegate vote at the GOP state convention to win the party nomination outright, he should have not been forced into a primary with Cox, who collected signatures.

He cites the court's 2008 decision in New York State Board of Elections v. Lopez Torres, as precedent. The case challenged New York's use of the convention system to nominate judicial candidates. The plaintiff argued that the system violated the First Amendment because it made it too difficult for candidates not favored by party leadership to win nominating contests.

In its decision, the Court held that political parties have a First Amendment right to use their own process for nominating candidates, but states have wide latitude in regulating the election process, and that political parties can be forced to comply with state laws.

Both Gov. Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who were named in the suit, waived their right to file a response to the complaint.

Late last week, former U.S. Senate candidate Trent Staggs and former Utah State School Board candidate Kris Kimball, both of whom prevailed in the convention vote this year but lost the primary election to signature gathering candidates, filed an amicus brief on behalf of Lyman. Their filing was also signed by five former Republican candidates who failed to advance past the primary election and independent candidate Carlton Bowen, who got just under 6% of the vote in this year's U.S. Senate election. Several hundred Republican delegates, party members and voters also added their names to the filing.

It's highly unlikely that the Court will agree to hear Lyman's appeal of the Utah Supreme Court decision. Of the thousands of cases filed every year, the U.S. Supreme Court only takes about 1%.

What does Lyman want to happen should the stars align, and the justices agree to take his case?

"I'd love to see it go back to the Utah Supreme Court and maybe stop the election or order a new election," Lyman told campaign volunteers in October.

Last month, Lyman told supporters he intends to run for governor again in 2028.