Disciplinary hearing against conservative Attorney John Eastman, who devised ways to keep former President Donald Trump in the White House after his defeat in the 2020 election, will commence on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
Eastman will likely spend the entire day giving testimony before the State Bar of California in a case that may see him lose his right to practice law in the state. He faces 11 disciplinary charges as a result of his development of a dubious legal strategy that was aimed at helping Trump remain in power by disrupting the counting of state electoral votes.
The California State Bar is a regulatory agency and the only court system in the U.S. that is dedicated to attorney discipline.
The State Bar’s counsel will seek Eastman’s disbarment during a hearing before the State Bar Court which is expected to last at least eight days.
If the court finds Eastman guilty of the alleged violations, it can recommend a punishment such as suspending or revoking his law license. The California Supreme Court makes the final decision.
Eastman is scheduled to testify in his own defense on Tuesday. The proceedings will feature witnesses such as Greg Jacob, a former attorney for then-Vice President Mike Pence who pushed back against Eastman’s plan to have Pence stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Eastman was one of Trump’s lawyers during the election. He argued, in a memo, that Pence could keep Trump in power by overturning the results of the election during a joint session of Congress convened to count electoral votes. Critics have likened that to instructions for staging a coup.
The State Bar alleges that Eastman violated California’s business and professions code by making false and misleading statements that constitute acts of “moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption,” and in doing so he “violated this duty in furtherance of an attempt to usurp the will of the American people and overturn election results for the highest office in the land — an egregious and unprecedented attack on our democracy.”
According to the California Bar’s website, Eastman has belonged to the organization since 1997. He was a founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a law practice associated with the Claremont Institute, and a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He ran for attorney general of California in 2010, coming in second place in the Republican primary.
After more than 160 faculty members signed a letter calling for the university to take action against him, Eastman resigned as Dean of the Chapman University law school in Southern California last year.
Eastman’s Disciplinary Hearing Comes Amid Trump’s Legal Battles
Eastman’s disciplinary hearing comes as special counsel Jack Smith continues his investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
A federal grand jury in Washington has been meeting behind closed doors for months to hear testimony from witnesses, including Pence, who has publicly described a pressure campaign by Trump aimed at getting him to halt Congress’ certification of the election results.
In December, Smith subpoenaed local election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving Trump, his 2020 campaign aides and a list of allies, including Eastman, who were involved in his efforts to try to overturn the results of the election.
The investigation is separate from another probe by Smith into classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate that led this month to felony charges against Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty last week to 37 felony counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice.
