Convicted of
John Eastman earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1996–97, and joined Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law in 1999 — serving as dean from 2007 to 2010 and holding the Henry Salvatori Professorship in Law. He simultaneously founded the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute, and was chairman of the Federalist Society's Federalism and Separation of Powers practice group. He was regarded as one of the leading conservative constitutional law scholars in the country before joining Trump's post-election legal effort.
After the November 2020 election, Eastman became the principal legal architect of the theory that Vice President Mike Pence possessed constitutional authority to unilaterally refuse to count or delay the certification of electoral votes on the day Congress met to certify the result. He produced two memos — the documents became known collectively as the "Eastman Memos" — setting out his argument. The first, dated December 23, 2020, was a two-page summary proposing that Pence reject or suspend the counting of electoral votes from seven states Biden had won: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. A subsequent six-page memo elaborated a step-by-step process: Pence would announce that competing slates of Trump electors existed in those states; claim he could not select between the competing slates; set aside the Biden electoral votes; close the count declaring Trump the winner with 232 to 222 electoral votes; and if the result was challenged in Congress, allow the House to decide the presidency. Eastman acknowledged in the memos that the plan would violate the Electoral Count Act, which he argued should be disregarded as unconstitutional. In the days immediately before the certification, Pence's counsel Greg Jacob documented that Eastman privately conceded the scheme would not survive judicial review and would violate the Act — yet continued pressing it. Multiple White House and Justice Department officials told Eastman and Trump the plan was legally baseless, describing it variously as "crazy," "nuts," and likely to "cause riots in the streets."
Eastman participated directly in Pence pressure meetings and helped coordinate the fake elector scheme across multiple states, by which Trump supporters signed certificates falsely claiming to be each state's legitimate presidential electors and transmitted those documents to Congress and the National Archives. He spoke at the Ellipse rally on the morning of the certification, repeating false claims of election fraud to the crowd before it marched on Congress. Chapman University announced his retirement on January 13, 2021, following a letter signed by more than 140 faculty members demanding his removal.
In August 2023, Eastman was among the 19 defendants indicted in Fulton County, Georgia on a sweeping RICO indictment. He faced nine counts: two violations of Georgia's RICO statute, two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings, conspiracy to commit the filing of false documents, two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, conspiracy to commit impersonation of a public officer, and solicitation of a public officer to violate their oath. The indictment focused specifically on his role in orchestrating the fake elector scheme and his legal pressure campaign on Pence. He surrendered at Fulton County Jail on August 22, 2023, and pleaded not guilty. In December 2022, the House Select Committee had referred him to the Department of Justice for prosecution on charges of obstructing the congressional certification and conspiracy to defraud the United States; no federal indictment followed.
The California State Bar's Office of Chief Trial Counsel filed 11 disciplinary charges against Eastman. In March 2024, State Bar Court Hearing Judge Yvette Roland issued a 128-page ruling finding him culpable on 10 of the 11 charges and recommending disbarment, citing conduct that "transgressed ethical limits by advocating, participating in and pursuing a strategy to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election that lacked evidentiary or legal support" and specifically noting his "lack of remorse and accountability." The State Bar Court Review Department affirmed the recommendation in June 2025. The California Supreme Court permanently disbarred Eastman on April 15, 2026, ordering him to pay $5,000 to the Client Security Fund plus costs. Eastman announced his intention to appeal to the United States Supreme Court, arguing the disbarment violated his First Amendment rights.
Original sentence
No criminal sentence was imposed. Eastman had been charged only at the state level in Georgia — not federally — and was pardoned by President Trump on November 10, 2025, as part of the group clemency for 77 individuals involved in 2020 election efforts. The pardon — "full, complete, and unconditional" — had no legal effect on his Georgia state charges, which remained technically active but effectively stalled. His disbarment in California proceeded independently as a professional disciplinary matter unaffected by the presidential pardon.