I have mentioend here a few times how remrkable it is that Donald Trump, as President and as John Q. Citizen, keeps finding lawyers willing to roll the dice with their law licenses. John Eastman is the latest version of the same story. In 2020, John Eastman, then a law school professor, was one of the leading lights behind the scheme in which VP Pence would refuse to certify some states’ election results.
John Eastman spoke at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. He, along with Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump worked up the crowd that later attacked the U.S, Capitol. Among many things, he told the crowd that VP Pence could reject the electoral college tallies. Bar Association committees do the actual work of investigating grievances filed about lawyers The Bar committee in Mr. Eastman’s case argued on appeal that the First Amendment does not protect a lawyer who makes claims about the election process which the lawyer knows to be untrue or is in reckless disregard of the truth. The judge who heard the trial also found that Eastman made comments on a podcast with Steve Bannon that were “grossly negligent” without any meaningful investigation.
After lengthy proceedings, the California Supreme Court disbarred Prof. Eastman. He was found guilty of “egregious and deceitful” conduct in 10 of 11 charges against him. See ABA Bar Journal report here.