Lawyers urge California bar to probe John Eastman's role in Trump bid to overturn 2020 election

Then-Chapman School of Law professor John Eastman testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 16, 2017, at a House Justice subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet hearing on restructuring the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Oct 5, 2021 / 10:08 AM PDT

Updated: Oct 5, 2021 / 10:08 AM PDT

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A group of prominent lawyers, including former governors and judges, urged the California bar on Monday to launch an investigation into John C. Eastman’s role in advising President Trump on how he could overturn his election defeat, including by having his vice president refuse to count the electoral votes in seven states won by President Biden.

Eastman, a former law professor and dean at Chapman University in Orange County, emerged as a key legal advisor to Trump in the weeks after it was apparent he had been defeated in the November election. He wrote two legal memos that advised Vice President Mike Pence he could decide the results in several states were disputed and therefore that their electoral votes would go uncounted. Doing so would have turned Trump from a loser to the winner.

Trump repeatedly pressed Pence to follow Eastman’s advice. But Pence understood correctly that the Constitution gave the the vice president a quite limited role. He presides in Congress on the day when the electoral votes are counted, but he has no role beyond opening the envelopes and announcing the state-by-state results.

Despite Trump’s pressure, Pence decided he would follow the law, not the advice from Eastman.

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