SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California attorney who aided President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has lost his license to practice in the state.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered John Eastman disbarred and his name stricken from the state roll of attorneys. It caps a yearslong effort by the state bar to strip Eastman of his law license after he developed a legal strategy to have then-Vice President Mike Pence interfere with the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
A judge for the State Bar Court of California in 2024 recommended that he lose his California law license. Eastman argued he was being punished for simply giving legal advice.
George Cardona, chief trial counsel for the State Bar of California, said Wednesday’s decision follows clear evidence that Eastman “advanced false claims about the 2020 presidential election to mislead courts, public officials, and the American public.”
“The Court’s order underscores that Mr. Eastman’s misconduct was incompatible with the standards of integrity required of every California attorney,” he stated.
Eastman’s attorney, Randall Miller, said the decision “raises pivotal constitutional concerns” and that they plan to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court. He emphasized that it departs from long-standing U.S. Supreme Court precedent protecting First Amendment rights, particularly in contexts involving attorney discipline.
The States United Democracy Center, which filed an early ethics complaint against Eastman, applauded the decision. Christine P. Sun, a senior vice president for the nonprofit, stated, “His unethical actions have had real, lasting consequences for our democracy.”
Eastman was a close adviser to Trump in the lead-up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He authored a memo outlining a plan for Pence to reject valid electoral votes for Biden while presiding over the joint session of Congress in an attempt to maintain Trump in the White House.
Prosecutors depicted Eastman as fabricating baseless theories and making false claims of fraud to overturn the election results. While his defense claimed he sought to delay electoral vote counting for investigations into voting improprieties, courts—including those with Trump-appointed judges—rejected these claims.
Eastman also faces criminal charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring with Trump and 18 others to overturn the election results in the state.
Previously, Trump had pardoned Eastman and others implicated in the efforts to overturn the election, although this pardon only applies to federal violations.
Eastman, who served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and as the dean of Chapman University law school, retired from teaching after significant faculty opposition to his actions.
The California State Bar, the sole agency dedicated to attorney discipline within the U.S., has concluded its lengthy investigation, marking a significant point in the ongoing aftermath of the 2020 election disputes.
