John Eastman

Eastman, who had taught at Chapman since 1999 and previously served as dean of the law school, drew national attention in August 2020 with an op-ed in Newsweek that falsely cast doubt on Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris’s citizenship and eligibility for the White House. President Trump and his allies seized on the argument. Eastman represented the president in a failed lawsuit requesting the Supreme Court to block four states from certifying Biden’s victory. A day before the Capitol riots, the New York Times reported, Eastman met with Trump and Vice President Pence in the Oval Office, where he argued Pence had the power to block Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. At the Jan. 6 2020 rally outside the White House, Eastman was joined onstage by Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who called for “trial by combat.” Eastman then repeated unfounded claims about voting machines causing election fraud. On Wednesday January 13 2020, Chapman announced Eastman would retire immediately. In exchange, the school and professor agreed not to sue each other, although Eastman had accused the institution of defamation over the blowback. Dr. John Eastman is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage. Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis.