John Eastman is in his martyr era.
Two years ago, California Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland recommended he be disbarred for his role in the plot to overturn the 2020 election. Eastman’s adult children responded with a hilariously over-the-top screed in Glenn Beck’s The Blaze comparing their father to Jesus on the cross, with the Roland cast as Judas Iscariot.
His GiveSendGo page — where he details his personal stations of the cross and has raked in over a million from the faithful — describes the attorney discipline proceedings as “my own Triduum.”
On Wednesday, the betrayal was complete. The Pharisees, AKA the California Supreme Court, upheld Judge Roland’s findings. Eastman’s name has been stricken from the roll of attorneys, effective immediately. He’s also been hit with a $5,000 sanction, which seems like something of a rounding error given the fundraising, but fine.
“While it may seem a little heavy-handed to compare the work of Eastman and others to the passion and death of Jesus Christ, a little reflection can make clear the connections,” the Eastman kids insist. “Jesus was betrayed and unjustly condemned because he preached a gospel message that was contrary to the desires of the ruling class of his time. Eastman has been betrayed and indicted for speaking up about election illegality and fraud, contrary to the desires of the political establishment and the mainstream media.”
Not exactly.
Their sainted papa didn’t just push an aggressive-but-arguably-defensible legal theory and lose. He peddled legal arguments he knew with certainty would not hold up under scrutiny, conceding to Mike Pence’s legal advisor Greg Jacob that, were the scheme to reach the Supreme Court, it would fail 9-0. And he took pains to ensure that they never got anywhere near a federal judge.
“The main thing here is that Pence should do this without asking for permission – either from a vote of the joint session or from the Court,” he wrote in one of his infamous memos. Even after rioters had overrun the Capitol, delaying certification of Biden’s win, Eastman urged that Pence should stay the proceedings, for “one more relatively minor violation” of the Electoral Count Act.
Judge David Carter called Eastman’s counsel “a coup in search of a legal theory” and abrogated attorney-client privilege under the crime-fraud exception.
And yet, Eastman cries that he is a poor victim of the evil, woke elite.
“This partisan weaponization of the bar disciplinary process–not just against me but hundreds of others, including current Department of Justice lawyers, is a serious threat to the legal profession, because one of its very purposes is to discourage other lawyers from taking on controversial causes or clients — controversial to the leftist/Marxist elites, that is,” he insists, vigorously shaking his tin cup. “Filing a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court and then, hopefully, getting a chance to have the case heard on the merits, is going to be expensive, perhaps $1/4 million or more.” [sic, and lolwut?]
“Denied; disbarred.” With that cursory ruling, the Cal. S.Ct declined to take my case despite clear First Amendment violations. So Bar Court disbarment recommendation now takes effect. We will appeal to U.S. S.Ct. Costly, but important. Please help here. https://t.co/XgROh6CLs4
— John Eastman (@DrJohnEastman) April 16, 2026
Oh, dear! What will poor John Eastman do with only an endless stream of FedSoc events, podcasts, wingnut welfare fellowships, and Ginny Thomas speaking gigs to sustain him?
Naturally, Jeff “the Oil Spill” Clark has thoughts.
“He did what lawyers are supposed to do — represent disfavored individuals,” Clark tweeted. “And make no mistake, the elites, especially in bar apparatuses, disfavor and hate President Trump and anyone associated with him with a burning passion.”
Clark, an extremely non-elite graduate of Harvard and Georgetown, served as head of the DOJ’s Civil Division in the aftermath of the 2020 election. He urged his colleagues to send letters to swing state legislatures falsely claiming to have found evidence of vote fraud, and he’s been fighting his own disbarment proceedings in DC for two years now. Send cash!
Meanwhile, Eastman vows to appeal to the Supreme Court, where his onetime boss, Justice Thomas, may be able to do him a solid. Blessed are the martyrs, for they shall inherit the cert petition.
Liz Dye produces the Law and Chaos Substack and podcast. You can subscribe by clicking the logo:
