Former Chapman University dean disbarred for Trump 2020 election role
The California Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to disbar attorney and former law school dean John Eastman for aiding the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
The court used Eastman’s name as ““removed from the proxy list” and that he paid $5,000 to the State Bar of California.
Eastman’s attorney, Randall A. Miller, told the Associated Press that the court’s decision “differs from longstanding United States Supreme Court precedent protecting First Amendment rights, particularly in the context of attorney discipline.” Miller did not immediately respond to an after-hours phone call from The Times seeking comment.
State Bar Association Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said in a statement that the ruling “underscores that Mr. Eastman’s misconduct was inconsistent with the standards of integrity required of every attorney in California.”
“Today’s California Supreme Court decision barring John Charles Eastman from practicing law in California confirms the fundamental principle that lawyers must act with integrity and uphold the rule of law, regardless of the client they represent or the context in which the representation occurs,” Cardona said. in question.
The Supreme Court’s decision affirmed State Bar Judge Yvette Roland’s 2024 ruling that Eastman was barred from practicing law.
In a marathon hearing from June to November 2024, the State Bar Association, which oversees attorneys in California, argued that Eastman was unfit to practice law because he peddled false claims that fraud cost Trump the election and supported a fake voter scheme to thwart the electoral count.
“It is true that a lawyer has a duty to mount a vigorous defense on behalf of his client,” Roland wrote in a 128-page decision in 2024. “But Eastman’s false claims were lies that could not be justified as zealous advocacy.”
Roland found Eastman guilty of 10 of 11 counts of misconduct.
The bar association argued that Eastman incited “predictable and destructive chaos” on Jan. 6, 2021, when he stood next to Trump adviser Rudolph W. Giuliani and told a massive crowd at the Ellipse that the election was fraudulent.
Eastman claimed that it was act in good faithand by being a strong advocate for his client. But State Bar attorneys said “the evidence, including often unconvincing trial testimony, shows that he had and continues to hold contempt for truth and democracy.”
Despite Eastman’s repeated claims that Joe Biden’s victory was illegal, Roland decided; Eastman’s own words showed that he knew the evidence was missing.
The judge cited an email Eastman sent to her friend Cleta Mitchell on Nov. 29, 2020, acknowledging that no fraud serious enough to affect the results could be proven.
“It would be nice to have actual documented evidence of fraud in the areas the analysis points to,” Eastman wrote.
After the 2024 decision, Eastman answered this question. bottom stack He wrote that he hoped the California Supreme Court, or the U.S. Supreme Court, “will step in to put an end to this law, which has become a serious threat to the First Amendment, the right of legal representation for controversial clients and cases, and our hostile justice system more broadly.”
Eastman has a long history in California’s conservative legal community. He was hired by Chapman’s law school in 1999 and served as dean from June 2007 to January 2010, after which he continued to teach courses on constitutional law, property law, legal history, and the 1st Amendment.
He retired in early 2021 after more than 100 Chapman faculty members and others affiliated with the university signed a letter urging the school to take action against him for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Wednesday’s ruling was the culmination of a lengthy investigation into Eastman’s actions that began in 2021. In October of that year, the nonpartisan legal group United States Center for Democracy filed an ethics complaint with the State Bar calling for an investigation into Eastman’s actions on January 6.
Christine P. Sun, senior vice president for legal affairs at the United Center for Democracy, said in a statement Wednesday that the court’s decision was “part of a broader reckoning with those who seek to undermine the rule of law.”
“Eastman played a central role in the plot to overturn the 2020 election, pressuring state officials, making false claims in court and promoting a fringe theory that the vice president could reject certified electoral votes,” the Sun said. he said in a statement. “His unethical actions had real and lasting consequences for our democracy, and we applaud the California Supreme Court’s decision to disbar him.”
Staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report
