{"id":2594133,"date":"2026-04-23T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-scotus-values-free-speech-it-will-stop-californias-persecution-of-john-eastman\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:07:19","slug":"if-scotus-values-free-speech-it-will-stop-californias-persecution-of-john-eastman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-scotus-values-free-speech-it-will-stop-californias-persecution-of-john-eastman\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Should Stop California&#8217;s Persecution Of John Eastman"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-scotus-values-free-speech-it-will-stop-californias-persecution-of-john-eastman%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2594133&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>This piece argues that conservatives deserve vigorous legal defense in America and portrays California\u2019s disbarment of constitutional scholar John Eastman as a politicized attack on dissenting legal thought. Eastman, who advised President Trump during the 2020 election challenge, faced 11 disciplinary counts by the California State Bar, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and \u201cmoral turpitude,\u201d for his role in developing and promoting legal theories and strategies to contest the election results. The author contends that Eastman\u2019s work was grounded in substantial scholarship, First Amendment protection, and a good-faith pursuit of legal questions, not crimes.<\/p>\n<p>The article alleges that California and allied actors miscast Eastman\u2019s analyses as criminal misconduct,ignoring facts,precedent,and due process. It describes the disciplinary proceeding as a \u201ckangaroo court\u201d: a long, expensive trial with accusations of partisan bias, barriers to key witnesses, and uneven evidentiary standards. the author connects the case to a broader pattern of \u201clawfare\u201d and \u201cbarfare\u201d aimed at chilling conservative legal advocacy, citing groups like the States United Democracy Center and prominent Democratic donors.<\/p>\n<p>It notes Eastman\u2019s contention that his legal theories about the Vice President\u2019s role and the Electoral Count Act were reasonable and later vindicated by Congressional amendments in 2022. Eastman intends to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing First Amendment and due-process protections, with the author urging the Court to overturn the California decision to defend the adversarial system and the rule of law. The piece identifies Ben Weingarten, editor at RealClearInvestigations, as the author and defender of these views.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Are conservatives entitled to vigorous legal defense in America? Or should they be condemned to second-class status in civil society and court, rendered bereft of advice and counsel because capable lawyers abandon the field, fearing ruin should they represent the right?<\/p>\n<p>In a tyrannical travesty of &ldquo;justice,&rdquo; California appears to be trying to usher in the latter, dystopic world by disbarring constitutional scholar John Eastman. The Golden State&rsquo;s Supreme Court blessed this position when, on April 15, it denied the conservative lawyer&rsquo;s petition for review of the state bar&rsquo;s yearslong disciplinary jihad against him and ordered him stripped of his license to practice law.<\/p>\n<p>What was the nefarious behavior that this former Supreme Court clerk, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-week-in-campus-insanity-vol-35\/\" title=\"This Week In Campus Insanity Vol. 35\u00a0\u00a0\">university law school dean<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >public interest litigator allegedly engaged<\/a> in? Effectively, in the eyes of the bar and California&rsquo;s highest court, his thoughtcrime, punishable with professional destruction, was &ldquo;lawyering for MAGA.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Eastman faithfully represented President Donald Trump and his campaign in connection with his 2020 election challenge and vigorously advocated for the president&rsquo;s positions in the court of law and public opinion. The attorney compiled substantial evidence that the election was marked with fraud and irregularities, and that non-legislative officials had effectively made new election law, further delegitimizing the contest. He evaluated alternatives on behalf of the president for remedying those deficiencies through a careful study of legal history, theory, and precedent. And he presented them to the president&rsquo;s team, drafted court filings in defense of the president&rsquo;s positions, and argued for the president&rsquo;s positions in media and before the president&rsquo;s supporters.<\/p>\n<h2>California&rsquo;s Claims<\/h2>\n<p>California, apparently working hand-in-glove with a prominent lawfare co-conspirator, transformed these actions into a sinister plot to steal the 2020 election. The caper appears to have been instigated by the States United Democracy Center, a key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/states-united-democracy-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cog<\/a> in Trump resistance efforts led by Norm Eisen. It filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/statesunited.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/10.4.21-FINAL-Eastman-Cover-Letter-Memorandum.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">complaint<\/a> with the state bar against Eastman in October 2021, alleging his work in connection with the president&rsquo;s 2020 election challenge constituted professional misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>Months later, in January 2023, the bar responded, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calbar.ca.gov\/news\/attorney-john-eastman-charged-multiple-disciplinary-counts-state-bar-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">issuing<\/a> an 11-count set of disciplinary <a href=\"https:\/\/discipline.calbar.ca.gov\/portal\/DocumentViewer\/Index\/xv_FicSci6H9VoCsxKkcVVqIlxBVZgX1T4U7NWRSzvWtgW8H1kv4DPfgbBfHMGMod0MPwiqkG7yhlp42frDgZtjouvz-_10p41IMUugMBRY1?caseNum=SBC-23-O-30029&amp;docType=Initial%2520Pleading\/Response&amp;docName=Notice%2520of%2520Disciplinary%2520Charges&amp;eventName=Notice%2520of%2520Disciplinary%2520Charges&amp;docTypeId=268&amp;isVersionId=False&amp;p=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">charges<\/a> against Eastman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calbar.ca.gov\/news\/attorney-john-eastman-charged-multiple-disciplinary-counts-state-bar-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">for<\/a> &ldquo;engag[ing] in a course of conduct to plan, promote, and assist then-President Trump in executing a strategy, unsupported by facts or law, to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by obstructing the count of electoral votes of certain states.&rdquo; Specifically, the bar hit Eastman with offenses including conspiracy to defraud the U.S., misleading the courts, and &ldquo;moral turpitude&rdquo; &mdash; offenses, incidentally, of which Eastman was never convicted, nor over which he ever faced legal sanctions in an actual court.<\/p>\n<p>The bar sought to punish Eastman for everything from statements made about the alleged corruption of the election on a podcast, to court filings reprising arguments made by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-include-money-for-abortion-providers-in-1-9-trillion-covid-aid-package\/\" title=\"Dems Include Money for Abortion Providers in .9 Trillion COVID Aid Package\">state attorneys general<\/a>. But in an analogue to the Washington, D.C., bar disciplinary case brought against the first Trump administration&rsquo;s Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, previously detailed at <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/12\/trump-doj-is-finally-taking-on-the-corrupt-dc-bar-association\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Federalist<\/a>, the heart of the case centered on internal memos Eastman drafted laying out how best to resolve outstanding election issues in contested states, and Eastman&rsquo;s conversations with Trump confidantes and administration officials about those approaches.<\/p>\n<h2>Eastman&rsquo;s Solid Scholarship<\/h2>\n<p>Perhaps most grievously in the Golden State&rsquo;s eyes, Eastman indicated in one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21066248-eastman-memo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memo<\/a> solicited by the Trump campaign that there was &ldquo;very solid legal authority and historical precedent&rdquo; suggesting that the 12<sup>th<\/sup> Amendment trumped the potentially unconstitutional Electoral Count Act of 1887, rendering the vice president solely responsible for counting the votes &ldquo;including the resolution of disputed electoral votes&rdquo; during the January 6 congressional session.<\/p>\n<p>The memo detailing that theory laid out a &ldquo;most aggressive&rdquo; scenario, in which, with dueling slates of electors in seven states, then-Vice President Mike Pence could either count electors solely in non-disputed states or punt the contest to the House &mdash; likely leading to President Trump prevailing. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/556272085\/Eastman-Memos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">second internal memo<\/a> illustrated a series of other scenarios, &ldquo;War Gaming the Alternatives&rdquo; the vice president could pursue. Eastman would recommend, directly and through his subordinates, that Pence take the option of delaying the counting of electoral votes and permitting contested states to call emergency sessions to resolve disputes over the election and its outcome.<\/p>\n<p>Eastman addressed these open and hugely consequential questions in the heat of an unprecedented election with appropriate caveats, citing substantial evidence and scholarship, and on a good faith, reasonable, and reasoned basis in dutiful support of his client. He believed he had an obligation to produce such work. And he believed that the First Amendment protected it. That Congress would later see fit to modify the Electoral Count Act in 2022 because of its ambiguity, including regarding the vice president&rsquo;s role in counting the electoral votes, would only vindicate Eastman&rsquo;s analysis. And how could America have a justice system if lawyers could not hypothesize about and take positions on unresolved legal questions?<\/p>\n<p>That Eastman&rsquo;s analysis was tenable was the only thing necessary to drive a stake through the heart of the bar&rsquo;s case. Yet the disciplinary authorities were unswayed, ignoring facts, evidence, logic, and precedent in a case seemingly rigged against Eastman from complaint to conviction.<\/p>\n<h2>Kangaroo Court<\/h2>\n<p>The kangaroo state bar court would subject the attorney to a grueling, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courthousenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/john-eastman-opening-brief.pdf#page=11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">34-day, 10-week<\/a> trial at massive expense, <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26173512\/eastman-petition-for-review.pdf#page=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">perhaps<\/a> the longest and most expensive such proceeding in U.S. history.<\/p>\n<p>Eastman&rsquo;s legal team indicated in filings that the trial occurred before a five-judge panel consisting of all registered Democrats, three of whom, including the presiding judge, had either made campaign contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee or to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Likewise, the bar&rsquo;s prosecutors were all registered Democrats. Eastman&rsquo;s team would argue he faced impartial adjudicators, to no avail.<\/p>\n<p>During the case, Eastman alleged that he faced other potential due process violations. He was, for example, prevented from compelling numerous key out-of-state witnesses to testify, despite all the alleged misconduct occurring in other states. He also argued that his team faced a double standard with respect to evidence, with the prosecution favored on what could be submitted or excluded and the unjustified exclusion of nearly all of his expert witnesses. Those witnesses also faced harassment, according to Eastman.<\/p>\n<p>What&rsquo;s more, Eastman claimed he was held to an unsupported legal standard, with case law indicating that in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/garland-seeks-to-trample-due-process-rights-to-get-trump\/\" title=\"Garland Seeks To Trample ... Rights To Get Trump\">bar disciplinary proceedings<\/a>, the prosecution must show &ldquo;clear and convincing evidence&rdquo; of culpability. Despite reasonable doubts in Eastman&rsquo;s case, he argued, the bar disciplinary authorities repeatedly found him culpable.<\/p>\n<p>Eastman would be charged on 10 of the 11 counts facing him and recommended for disbarment. The recommendation would survive appeal all the way up to the California Supreme Court, which has just refused to even entertain Eastman&rsquo;s challenge.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling concluded an apparent yearslong conspiracy to crush Eastman. Despite the evil efforts of the January 6 Committee, Biden Justice Department, and corrupt state and local prosecutors, they had heretofore failed to draw blood. Well, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblaze.com\/columns\/opinion\/the-heroic-sacrifice-of-john-eastman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">save for<\/a> the massive legal bills, threats to his life and home, de-banking, trashing of his reputation, diversion from his life&rsquo;s work, and the associated stress and humiliation that he had suffered.<\/p>\n<p>Eastman, an eminent attorney, and to anyone who has ever met him, a self-evidently decent person and patriot, has vowed to take this fight to the Supreme Court. While he will do so in defense of the First Amendment and due process rights, he will also be defending an even more fundamental ideal. As I have detailed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearinvestigations.com\/articles\/2025\/09\/30\/from_lawfare_to_barfare_another_way_to_target_trump_allies_1137892.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reporting<\/a> at RealClearInvestigations, the tactic of Barfare that he has faced is in practice more than just a nefarious effort to destroy conservative lawyers and chill would-be defenders of conservative causes and figures. It is at core a tyrannical assault on America&rsquo;s adversarial system of justice.<\/p>\n<p>He is, in short, fighting for the rule of law itself.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court must overturn the Golden State&rsquo;s abominable decision. Otherwise, it will turn one man&rsquo;s travesty into a tragedy for all of America.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Ben Weingarten is editor at large for RealClearInvestigations. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, columnist at Newsweek, and a contributor to the New York Post and Epoch Times, among other publications. Subscribe to his newsletter at weingarten.substack.com, and follow him on Twitter: @bhweingarten.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paraphrase:<br \/>\nThe piece questions whether conservatives in the U.S. deserve strong, unrestricted legal defense or if they should be treated as second-class citizens in courts and civil society because top lawyers fear taking their cases. It argues California is moving toward the latter by disbarring constitutional scholar John Eastman after a lengthy bar disciplinary process. The author contends Eastman was punished for \u201clawyering for MAGA\u201d-that is, for representing Donald Trump in the 2020 election challenge and for presenting arguments and evidence in court and to the public about election irregularities and possible legal remedies. The California bar\u2019s complaint, aided by a prominent liberal \u201clawfare\u201d group, is said to miscast Eastman\u2019s work as a conspiracy to overturn the election, alleging offenses like conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and moral turpitude-charges for which he was never convicted.<\/p>\n<p>The article emphasizes that Eastman\u2019s memos and internal analyses discussed legitimate legal questions and strategic options, including questions about the 12th Amendment and the vice president\u2019s role in counting electoral votes. It asserts that Eastman acted in good faith, citing scholarship and First Amendment protection, and notes that Congress later revised the Electoral Count Act to address related ambiguities. The author argues the disciplinary proceedings were slanted, with a trial panel and prosecutors aligned with Democratic causes, and claims due-process violations, witness limitations, and a biased evidentiary standard. He views the case as part of broader \u201cBarfare\u201d aimed at chilling conservatives and undermining the adversarial nature of U.S. justice. Eastman plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, and the author urges the high court to overturn the California decision to defend the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>55-character limit line:<br \/>\nConservatives deserve robust legal defense in America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":698,"featured_media":2594134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/east2-e1776894313473.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[4045,38845,17090,19118,6994],"class_list":["post-2594133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-california","tag-civil-liberties","tag-eastman","tag-persecution","tag-scotus"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/east2-e1776894313473.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2594133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2594141,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594133\/revisions\/2594141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2594134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2594133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2594133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2594133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}