Former Chapman University dean disbarred for Trump 2020 election role

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the disbarment of attorney and former law school dean John Eastman for his role in the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

The court ordered that Eastman’s name be “removed from the roll of lawyers » and pay $5,000 to the State Bar of California.

Eastman’s attorney, Randall A. Miller, told The Associated Press that the court’s decision “departs from long-standing U.S. 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 seeking comment from the Times.

State Bar Chief Counsel George Cardona said in a statement that the decision “underscores that Mr. Eastman’s misconduct was inconsistent with the standards of integrity required of any California lawyer.”

“Today’s order from the California Supreme Court barring John Charles Eastman from the practice of law in California affirms the fundamental principle that attorneys must act honestly and respect the rule of law, regardless of the client they represent or the context in which that representation occurs,” Cardona said. said.

The Supreme Court’s decision upholds a 2024 ruling by state bar judge Yvette Roland barring Eastman from practicing law.

In a marathon trial that lasted from June to November 2024, the state bar, which regulates lawyers in California, argued that Eastman was unfit to practice law for peddling false claims that fraud cost Trump the election and for promoting a fake voter scheme to block the electoral count.

“It is true that a lawyer has a duty to engage in zealous defense on behalf of a client,” Roland wrote in 2024 in a 128-page decision. “However, Eastman’s inaccurate claims were lies that cannot be substantiated by zealous advocacy.”

Roland found Eastman guilty of 10 of 11 counts of misconduct.

Eastman fomented “predictable and destructive chaos” when he stood alongside fellow Trump adviser Rudolph W. Giuliani on Jan. 6, 2021, and told a huge crowd at the Ellipse that the election was fraudulent, the bar argued.

Eastman claimed he was act in good faithand as a staunch defender of his client. But state bar attorneys argued that “the evidence, including his often implausible trial testimony, shows that he had — and still does — disregard for the truth and democracy.”

Despite Eastman’s repeated claims that Joe Biden’s victory was illegal, Roland ruled, Eastman’s own words showed he knew the evidence was lacking.

The judge cited an email Eastman sent to a friend, Cleta Mitchell, on Nov. 29, 2020, acknowledging that fraud serious enough to influence the results could not be proven.

“It would be nice to have concrete, documented evidence of fraud in the areas that the analyzes pointed to,” Eastman wrote.

After the 2024 ruling, Eastman responded in his Substack writings that he hoped the California Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court would “intervene to end this legal conflict that has become a serious threat to the First Amendment, the right of clients and controversial causes to legal representation, and more broadly to our adversarial justice system.”

Eastman has a long history in California’s conservative legal circles. He was hired by Chapman Law School in 1999 and served as dean from June 2007 to January 2010, then continued to teach courses in constitutional law, property law, legal history, and the 1st Amendment.

He retired in early 2021 after more than 100 Chapman professors and others affiliated with the university signed a letter calling on the school to take action against him for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

Wednesday’s ruling is the end of a long investigation into Eastman’s actions that began in 2021. In October of that year, the nonpartisan legal group States United Democracy Center filed an ethics complaint calling on the state bar to investigate Eastman’s actions on January 6.

Christine P. Sun, senior vice president of legal services at the United Democracy Center of the United States, said Wednesday that the court’s decision “is part of a broader reckoning for 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, asserting baseless claims in court, and promoting a fringe theory that the vice president could reject certified electoral votes,” Sun said in a statement. “His unethical actions have had real and lasting consequences on our democracy, and we applaud the California Supreme Court’s decision to disbar him.” »

Staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report