WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 04: John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, testifies during a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee June 4, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee heard from six representatives of groups that were targeted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for special scrutiny. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A California Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland ruled that conservative attorney John Eastman, one of the co-conspirators in former President Donald Trump‘s plan to overturn the 2020 election, should be disbarred.
Eastman testified before the State Bar of California in June 2023 in a proceeding aimed to strip him of his license to practice law in the state.
He was one of Trump’s lawyers in 2020 and played a large role in helping him try to overturn the results of that year’s election, which the former president falsely claims was “stolen” by Joe Biden and Democratic officials.
He also devised a plan involving former Vice President Mike Pence invalidating the 2020 results during a joint session of Congress which had convened to count the electoral votes.
For months, a federal grand jury in Washington met in secret and heard testimony from witnesses, including Pence. He allegedly told the jury that he felt immense pressure from the Trump campaign to halt Congress’ certification of Biden as the 2020 election winner.
Eastman faced 11 disciplinary charges and testified in his defense.
Eastman violated California’s business and professions code by making false statements that constitute acts of “moral turpitude, dishonesty and corruption,” the State Bar wrote in a filing.
He disputed “every aspect” of the allegations, according to his attorney, Randall Miller.
Judge Roland’s decision means that the conservative attorney will be ineligible to practice law.
“In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends Eastman be disbarred,” Roland wrote.
Despite this, Eastman can ask the bar court’s review department − and possibly the state Supreme Court − to review this decision.
Miller stated they would go to the review court and if they get an unfavorable decision, they would “keep moving up from there.”
“Dr. Eastman maintains that his handling of the legal issues he was asked to assess after the November 2020 election was based on reliable legal precedent, prior presidential elections, research of constitutional text and extensive scholarly material,” Miller stated. “They are ethically bound to be zealous advocates for their clients – a duty Dr. Eastman holds inviolate.”
The advocacy group States United, which filed the complaint against Eastman in January 2023, supported the decision.
“This is a big deal,” Joanna Lydgate, the States United Democracy Center’s CEO, said in a statement. “When he helped Donald Trump try to overthrow the results of a free and fair election, John Eastman put his personal agenda above the decision of American voters. He broke his oath to uphold the Constitution, and he betrayed the legal profession.”
Eastman helped create the strategy to recruit Republicans in key swing states to serve as false presidential electors despite Biden winning these states.
Congress could then either acknowledge the GOP electors and hand the election to Trump or throw the dispute to the House of Representatives, where Republicans could name him president with their majority in state delegations in a contingent election, under this strategy.
Pence’s notes revealed that he refused to participate in acknowledging the fake electors when certifying the vote on January 6, 2021.
In an Oval Office meeting with the former vice president, Eastman acknowledged the Supreme Court might rule unanimously against this strategy, Pence counsel Greg Jacob said in sworn testimony.
Last year, U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled in a civil lawsuit over Eastman’s emails, the “illegality” of the scheme was “obvious” and that he and the former president “more likely than not” behaved illegally in attempting to obstruct Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Eastman pleaded not guilty to eight charges in Georgia such as conspiracy to commit forgery and even conspiracy to file false documents.
In February, the attorneys, Juli Haller, Lawrence Joseph and Brandon Johnson, who assisted Clark’s associate, Syndey Powell‘s campaign to promote legal challenges to the 2020 election results, were accused of deliberately making fake representations to courts about a series of lawsuits filed in the weeks after the 2020 election.
Joseph had been involved in a lawsuit filed by former Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) against Pence. The lawsuit focused on pressuring Pence to use his power to alter the election results according to Trump’s wishes. Lower courts rejected this lawsuit, and the Supreme Court ended the case back in January 2021.
Haller played a key part in Powell’s “Kraken” lawsuits. These lawsuits were made to challenge Biden’s wins in swing states but were ultimately unsuccessful.
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