John Eastman

John Charles Eastman (born 1960) is an American lawyer and academic. He is known for his efforts to block certification and overturn the results of the 2020 United States presidential election.

Eastman is the founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public-interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank. He is a former professor and former dean at Chapman University School of Law. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for California's 34th congressional district in 1990, and for California Attorney General in 2010. He is a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

During President Donald Trump's last efforts to block the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, Eastman told Vice President Mike Pence on January 5, 2021, that Pence had the constitutional authority to block the certification. Pence did not accept Eastman's argument. Eastman also sent Republican senator Mike Lee a six-point plan of action for Pence to throw out the electors from seven states to keep Trump in power, which Lee rejected.

On January 6, 2021, Eastman spoke at the White House Trump rally preceding the 2021 United States Capitol attack. He retired a week later from the Chapman faculty after controversy surrounding his speech.

Eastman has since been criminally indicted, ordered inactive by the State Bar of California, and recommended for disbarment. Eastman has lost eligibility to practice law in California state courts, pending his appeal of the state bar judge's ruling that recommended him for disbarment. Eastman was one of the six alleged co-conspirators listed in the Justice Department's federal indictment of Trump. On March 28, 2022, federal judge David O. Carter found Eastman, along with Trump, was more likely than not to have "dishonestly conspired to obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021". In December 2022, the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack recommended Eastman be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, along with Trump and potentially others. In August 2023, he and eighteen other people were indicted in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Georgia. In April 2024, he and seventeen others were indicted in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Arizona. Provided by Wikipedia