SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 A California attorney who aided President Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has lost his license to practice in the state.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s presidential victory. <\/p>\n
A judge for the State Bar Court of California in 2024 recommended that he lose his California law license<\/a>. Eastman argued he was being punished for simply giving legal advice.<\/p>\n 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Court\u2019s order underscores that Mr. Eastman\u2019s misconduct was incompatible with the standards of integrity required of every California attorney,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Eastman\u2019s attorney, Randall Miller, said the decision \u201craises pivotal constitutional concerns\u201d and that they plan to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n The ruling, he said in a statement, \u201cdeparts from long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent protecting First Amendment rights, especially in the attorney discipline context.\u201d<\/p>\n The States United Democracy Center, which filed an early ethics complaint against Eastman, cheered the decision.<\/p>\n \u201cHis unethical actions have had real, lasting consequences for our democracy,\u201d Christine P. Sun, a senior vice president for the nonprofit, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Eastman was a close adviser to Trump in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack<\/a> on the U.S. Capitol. He wrote a memo laying out a plan for Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes for Biden while presiding over the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 in order to keep Trump in the White House.<\/p>\n Prosecutors looking to strip Eastman of his law license had depicted him as fabricating a baseless theory and making false claims of fraud in hopes of overturning the results of the election. <\/p>\n An attorney for Eastman had countered that his client wasn’t trying to steal the election but was considering ways to delay electoral vote counting so states could investigate allegations of voting improprieties. Trump\u2019s claims of fraud were roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.<\/p>\n Eastman has also faced criminal charges in Georgia in the case accusing Trump and 18 allies<\/a> of conspiring to overturn the Republican\u2019s loss in the state. The case was dismissed<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n Earlier that month, Trump had pardoned Eastman<\/a> and many others accused of backing the Republican\u2019s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The pardon only applies to federal crimes.<\/p>\n