The Wyoming Supreme Court declined Tuesday to intervene in a Cheyenne lawyer’s dispute with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office over its handling of an election complaint against Secretary of State Chuck Gray.
In April, George Powers, a private attorney, filed an election code complaint with Attorney General Keith Kautz. In the complaint, Powers alleged that Gray may have broken state law when, in August, he gave the driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of every registered voter to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Trump administration began seeking that information from all 50 states in 2025.
Because Kautz had advised Gray in his response to the Justice Department request, Powers asked the attorney general to recuse himself from the matter. When Kautz would not say whether he would do so, Powers asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
More specifically, Powers’ attorneys filed a petition for a writ of mandamus — a legal action that allows a court to order government officials to perform their public duties. Because it is considered an extraordinary remedy, courts will only grant such a petition if it meets certain requirements, including a clear right to relief, a defined duty to act and the absence of any other legal recourse in the matter.
The petition asked the high court to command Kautz, himself a former Wyoming Supreme Court justice, to recuse himself and his office from investigating the allegations contained in the complaint, and to appoint an independent prosecutor to handle the matter.
Tuesday, the high court denied the petition.
“We find Petitioner has not cited any ‘absolute, clear, and indisputable’ law specifically requiring these actions,” the two-page decision states. “As such, Petitioner is not entitled to mandamus relief.”
The ruling spells the petition’s end, but does not necessarily conclude the dispute. Ryan Semerad, attorney for Powers, told WyoFile they are considering next steps, especially since the petition process provided both “more information and more questions.”
In his response to the petition, which was filed earlier this month, Kautz disclosed publicly for the first time that two groups of attorneys who reviewed Powers’ complaint declined to bring criminal charges against Gray.
The attorney general’s office evaluated the complaint by creating a “Chinese wall,” or an internal information barrier, the filing states. An unnamed private Wyoming law firm, alongside a Wyoming county and prosecuting attorney, conducted the second evaluation.
Both groups of attorneys decided not to pursue criminal charges, the filing states.
Kautz’s office has not responded to inquiries by WyoFile about the identities of the law firm or the county and prosecuting attorney.
Gray has stood by his decision, maintaining he made it in consultation with the attorney general’s office and in support of election integrity. He has accused Powers of trying to undermine his office’s work.
“From the very beginning, this has been nothing more than a political witch hunt from Leftist George Powers and an attempt by the Left and the media to damage my Congressional campaign,” Gray said in a text message, adding that “over 20 states” have complied with the Justice Department.
Most states have responded to the request by either providing publicly available versions of their voter registration lists — i.e. data sets without sensitive information — or altogether declining to provide lists, according to the Brennan Center, which has been tracking states’ responses.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
