A judge thinks that lawyer John Eastman should not be allowed to practice law in California because he tried to help Donald Trump stay president after the 2020 election.
Eastman, who used to be a dean at a law school, is in trouble with the state bar court. He is accused of making a plan to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop President Joe Biden from being certified as the winner.
California Judge Yvette Roland’s recommendation was given on Wednesday. Now it will go to the California Supreme Court for a final decision on whether he should lose his license to practice law. Eastman can ask the highest court to change its decision.
Eastman’s lawyer, Randall A. Miller said in an email that he and his client were thinking about the decision and will have more to say about it later.
The judge said Eastman is responsible for 10 out of 11 of the things he was accused of. This includes lying to courts, being dishonest, saying untrue things, and working with Trump to stop the transfer of power.
“Eastman worked with President Trump to stop the government from doing its job. They planned to disrupt the counting of votes on January 6, 2021,” Roland wrote in her long decision.
The California State Bar is a group that makes sure lawyers follow the rules. It is the only one in the US that punishes lawyers for breaking the rules.
Eastman is being charged with a crime in Georgia. He is accused of conspiring with Trump and 18 other people to overturn the Republican’s loss in the state. Eastman said he didn’t do anything wrong and was just doing his job as Trump’s lawyer when he questioned the 2020 election results. He said the case is trying to punish lawyers for doing their best to help their clients.
He is involved in another case about interfering in the 2020 election, but he has not been charged with a crime in that case.
The State Bar of California says that Eastman broke the state’s business and professions code by making false and misleading statements. They say he did this to try to overturn the results of the presidential election, which is a serious attack on our democracy.
Roland said that because of what Eastman did and weighing the bad and good things, the court thinks Eastman should lose his license to practice law.
Eastman was a trusted advisor to Trump before the January. January 6, 2021, a violent incident at the US Capitol. He wrote a note explaining a plan for Pence to not accept valid votes for Biden during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to make sure Trump stays in the White House.
Lawyers want to take away Eastman’s license because they say he helped Trump by making up a false theory and lying about fraud in the election. They think he did this to try to change the election results.
Eastman’s lawyer said that Eastman did not plan to steal the election, but was thinking of ways to postpone counting the votes so that states could look into claims of voting problems. The courts, including the ones that Trump picked, did not agree with Trump’s claims of fraud.
The judge didn’t believe Eastman’s argument that he was just trying to help Trump.
“An attorney must work very hard to support their client,” Roland wrote. “But, Eastman’s wrong statements were lies and cannot be excused as passionate advocacy. ” Eastman did not tell the truth and broke the rules by lying to make his legal arguments seem stronger. Finally, the court says that doing things that are very wrong is not allowed, even if you are a lawyer trying to defend someone.
Roland agreed with Eastman’s lawyer on one of the 11 charges. The judge didn’t like Eastman’s speech at a rally in Washington on Jan. 6 was not part of the attack on the Capitol that happened later.
Eastman will not be allowed to work as a lawyer in California for the next three days while the Supreme Court looks at his case. This is because of the judge’s order.
The group that complained about Eastman’s behavior early on, the States United Democracy Center, was happy about the judge’s decision.
“This win is very important in making sure those who tried to change the outcome of the 2020 election are held responsible. ” After hearing from almost twenty witnesses during a 35-day trial, the court decided that John Eastman did not follow his ethical responsibilities to support the constitution,” said Christine P. Sun is an important leader in a nonprofit organization. “This choice shows that everyone, including presidents and their lawyers, must follow the law. ”
According to its website, Eastman has been a member of the California Bar since 1997. He worked for a judge at the US Supreme Court and helped start a law firm connected to the Claremont Institute. In 2010, he tried to become California’s attorney general, but he came in second place in the Republican primary.
Eastman was in charge of the Chapman University law school in Southern California from 2007 to 2010 and was a teacher at the school until he retired in 2021. Over 160 faculty members signed a letter asking the university to do something about him.