It could be a bad switch. It could be a bad connection in any device on the circuit, even working ones.

Could be a GFCI somewhere in between the circuit breaker box and the lights. Check in the garage, the basement, behind stuff in storage.....

Thanks. Time to investigate...

I am going with a the ground fault outlet theory also..check all areas of the house and make sure that all the gfci outlets trip and reset. Check bathrooms too. I would check the outside as well just to make sure that they did not put a gfci out there that when trips would kill the mudroom..."seen it before".

At the risk of sounding like "me to", I have repeatedly talked about not having lights on a GFCI. The most common use of GFCIs is receptacles in situations where there is potential moisture, kitchen counters and bathrooms that must be GFCI protected by code and outside receptacles. As others have said, perhaps these lights are wired off a GFCI protected receptacle. Next thing is to pull the lights down to see if there is a lose connection.