On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed, without any comment or explanation, former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne’s unlikely attempt to have his chosen attorney represent him in a defamation lawsuit. This case, initiated by Dominion Voting Systems in 2021, remains unresolved.

Significant developments have occurred since Dominion launched the lawsuit after Joe Biden’s presidential victory. These include a substantial settlement with Fox News, Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, and Dominion’s recent acquisition by Liberty Vote, a company established by Republican former election official Scott Leiendecker.

Just days before news of the sale emerged, confidential settlements were reached in Dominion’s high-profile lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani, a former Trump attorney, and Sidney Powell, known as the “Kraken” attorney. This raises the question: will Byrne pursue a similar resolution?

Byrne was among those alleged to have advocated, behind the scenes at the White House in late 2020, that an international corporate conspiracy orchestrated the election’s outcome. Stefanie Lambert initially represented Byrne in the Dominion lawsuit until the indicted Michigan lawyer was barred from the case following a detailed ruling.

In August 2024, a U.S. magistrate judge removed Lambert from the case, citing her “intentional, dangerous, and relentless misconduct.” This decision also affected Lambert’s unsuccessful effort to defend Byrne in a separate defamation case filed by Hunter Biden in California.

Lambert vowed to appeal, but the appeal flopped at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and ended at the Supreme Court on Monday.

Brought by attorney Peter Ticktin, Byrne’s petition asked the high court to answer whether Lambert should have been disqualified for violating a protective order through a discovery breach when that order was used to “shelter evidence of crimes” that Dominion categorically denied. Byrne also petitioned the court to decide if Lambert’s ouster violated the ex-Overstock CEO’s Fifth Amendment right to due process.

The latest update in the Dominion case at the U.S. District Court for the District Columbia is that the judge on Halloween ordered up a joint status report “on or before” Nov. 14.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, wanted to know if a stay “should be lifted” so the case can proceed and, if so, what “motions remain live that the Court should rule on, and what the sequence of next events in this case should be.”

Law&Crime sought comment from Ticktin on the Supreme Court’s denial and the road ahead.