A judge from the California State Bar Court in late March recommended that the law license of former Trump attorney John Eastman be revoked over his efforts to keep Trump in office after the 2020 election, the Associated Press reported.
In her March 27 recommendation, State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland determined that Eastman, who faced 11 disciplinary charges for his role in developing the strategy to have Mike Pence block the certification of President Biden’s election, was liable for ten of the charges, including moral turpitude, making false statements, misleading the courts, and plotting to hinder the peaceful transfer of power.
In her decision, Judge Roland said that by “conspiring” with then-President Donald Trump to “disrupt” the certification process on January 6, 2021, Eastman attempted “to obstruct a lawful function of the government.”
Judge Roland’s recommendation will now be sent to the California Supreme Court which will make the final ruling on whether Eastman should be disbarred.
In a statement following Roland’s decision, Eastman’s attorney Randall Miller said his client continued to maintain that his handling of the issues he was asked to assess following the 2020 election “was based on reliable legal precedent.” Miller said Eastman’s assessment was supported by “extensive scholarly material” and his “research of constitutional text.”
Miller asserted that the process Eastman took on behalf of Donald Trump was “the same process taken by lawyers every day and everywhere,” adding that it was “the essence of what lawyers do.”
The California State Bar accused Eastman of violating the state’s business and professions codes, alleging that he made false and misleading statements to further an attempt to “usurp the will of the American people” by attempting to overturn a presidential election.
Eastman is among the defendants charged in Fulton County, Georgia’s election interference case in which he pleaded not guilty. He argued that he was only acting as Trump’s attorney when challenging the 2020 election results and denounced the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for bringing charges against lawyers for zealously advocating “on behalf of their clients.”
