For just a while, the sun shined brightly on John Eastman, the former Chapman University professor plucked from relative obscurity who became an architect of the fake elector plot and one of the first people to attack birthright citizenship way back in 2008. But despite all of that help he gave President Donald Trump, Eastman didn’t even get a sweet Justice Department gig.
To be fair, Eastman probably couldn’t take a DOJ job because he’s currently not allowed to practice law, fighting disbarment proceedings in California for quite some time. In March 2024, a California judge recommended his disbarment for conspiring with Trump to disrupt the electoral count on Jan. 6, 2021. Eastman also got dinged for false statements, constituting “moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption,” and for violating his duty as a lawyer by trying to overturn the 2020 election.
On June 13, a three-judge review panel affirmed the judge’s ruling in a 103-page decision that pulls no punches. The decision is just as much a condemnation of Eastman’s failings as it is the damage caused by Trump’s crusade to overturn the 2020 election.
“In essence, the way Eastman conducted himself during the course of his representation of President Trump had a negative impact on the judicial system and the administration of justice,” the panel concluded.
There’s also the fact that Eastman continues to insist that President Joe Biden’s 2020 win was the product of shadowy forces and faulty voting machines, both of which have been repeatedly debunked. Turns out that state bars don’t look fondly on refusing to accept court decisions.
Now the next stop for Eastman, if he wants to keep fighting, is the California Supreme Court.
And therein lies the problem. Trump can’t do anything about actions in state courts, so he can’t force the California Supreme Court to let Eastman practice law. Additionally, Eastman’s criminal charges are in state courts, including his racketeering case in Georgia and his indictment in Arizona for his role in putting together a slate of fake electors.
Now Eastman is facing the consequences that Trump should have faced before the Supreme Court invented a special sweeping immunity for him. While Eastman deserves whatever befalls him, it’s important to remember that he did these things at the behest of Trump, who is untouchable.
In his quest to overturn the election, Trump assembled huge teams of attorneys: Some only gave him advice behind the scenes, some went to court to push his unhinged conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and some represented him in his myriad criminal trials. Those attorneys have been rewarded handsomely, like Emil Bove’s lifetime appointment to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
But the diehards who were around from the start, susceptible to any passing conspiracy, got no such soft landing. Rudy Giuliani had to file for bankruptcy but managed to be so shady during the process that his case was thrown out. He also had to pay two Georgia election workers nearly $150 million for defamation, and he’s been disbarred in both New York and Washington, D.C.
And Eastman, who once had the resume for a very promising law career, is now fighting for his professional life without the might of the Trump administration behind him. Hardly seems fair for a true believer like Eastman, but Trump clearly doesn’t find him useful any longer.