A California judge ruled on March 27 that a former attorney for Donald Trump who was the “chief architect of the insurrection on the Capitol,” should lose his law license over his role in Trump and his allies’ attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
John Eastman’s official status with the State Bar of California was updated to “not eligible to practice law.,” Democracy Docket reported.
In the 128-page ruling from the State Bar Court of California, Eastman was charged with one count of “failing to support the Constitution and laws of the United States,” two counts of “seeking to mislead a court,” six counts of “moral turpitude by making various misrepresentations” and finally, two counts of “moral turpitude.”
Eastman faced 11 charges from the California State Bar over his myriad legal efforts to help Trump overturn the election results. Those charges stemmed from two memos he sent — one on Dec. 23, 2020 and another on Jan. 4, 2021 — presented ways in which Trump could stay in the White House. The second one Eastman sent, a notorious six-page memo, outlined how Trump could stay in the White House by persuading Vice President Mike Pence to throw out the electoral votes for Joe Biden in seven key states and instead cast them for Trump.
Eastman’s memo hinged, in part, on the fringe right-wing legal theory called the independent legislature theory (ISL) that interprets the word “legislature” to mean that only the legislature can set the rules for federal elections, including how presidential electors are chosen.
Eastman sent the memo on Jan. 4, 2021 — just two days before the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who were trying to thwart the certification of the election. Eastman spoke at the Jan. 6 rally near the White House that preceded the attack where he asserted, without evidence, that voter fraud helped Biden win the election.
Read the full report over at Democracy Docket.
