John Eastman, the veteran conservative attorney, cannot practice law in California. A California judge on Wednesday, in a 128-page opinion, revoked the law license of Eastman, one of former President Donald Trump’s top allies in his failed last-ditch gambit to subvert the 2020 election, Politico reports. Judge Yvette Roland, who presided over months of testimony and argument about the basis of Eastman’s fringe legal theories, ruled that Eastman violated ethics rules — and even potentially criminal law — when he advanced Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results based on weak or discredited claims of fraud.
Eastman plans to appeal Roland’s decision to a panel of judges, an interim step before the matter reaches the state Supreme Court. While his appeal is pending, the ruling forces his law license into “inactive” status, meaning he can no longer practice law in California. Roland’s 128-page opinion was a lacerating rebuke of Eastman’s conduct and his subsequent lack of remorse. At every turn, Roland wrote, Eastman ignored evidence that was unfavorable to his case and accepted at face value claims of fraud or misconduct aimed at sowing doubt about the election results.