FILE – Attorney John Eastman, who developed a legal strategy designed to keep former President Donald Trump in office, speaks with reporters following a hearing in Los Angeles on June 20, 2023 (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File).
John Eastman’s disbarment in California has not prevented him from representing clients before a federal appeals court.
Eastman, a former Chapman University School of Law professor, filed a notice of appearance last week in a lawsuit brought by University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax against the university.
The case centers on disciplinary action Penn took against Wax after controversial remarks she made about Black students.
“Here’s a very inconvenient fact,” Wax said in a 2018 interview. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of the class and rarely, rarely in the top half.”
Following a yearslong disciplinary process, Penn suspended Wax for one year at half pay, ended her summer compensation “in perpetuity,” removed her named professorship and issued a public reprimand.
Wax filed a lawsuit in January 2025 alleging breach of contract, invasion of privacy and violations of statutory protections. The federal district court dismissed the case in August 2025, ruling for Penn and declining to let Wax submit an amended complaint. Wax filed a notice of appeal with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the following month.
The appeal is now moving forward, with Eastman scheduled to argue for Wax during oral arguments in November, according to a report first published by Reuters.
“I was delighted to accept Professor Wax’s request to represent her on this important appeal,” Eastman said in an emailed statement. “In many ways, Penn’s efforts to cancel her are part of a broader, despicable cancel culture of which my own Cal Bar proceedings are a part.”
In April 2026, the California Supreme Court formally disbarred Eastman in a brief order concluding a lengthy disciplinary case. The court rejected petitions for review filed the previous year by both Eastman and the State Bar of California.
“The petitions for review are denied,” the court stated. “The court orders that John Charles Eastman (Respondent), State Bar Number 193726, is disbarred from the practice of law in California and that Respondent’s name is stricken from the roll of attorneys.”
By denying both petitions, the state’s highest court effectively left intact decisions from the trial and appellate courts. Those rulings had recommended disbarment based on Eastman’s role as a central architect of Donald Trump’s unsuccessful effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Eastman wrote two of the numerous so-called “coup memos,” which outlined possible legal and political avenues for discarding Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
The lower courts ultimately determined, in decisions that addressed a limited portion of the broader controversy, that Eastman’s work for Trump included “multiple acts of moral turpitude.”
Eastman maintains that the California disbarment should have little, if any, impact on his representation of Wax in the 3rd Circuit, where he has been admitted since 2017. A supplemental notice he filed Sept. 11 lists his current status with the appellate court’s bar.
“Those proceedings were so obviously political that I do not expect them to be a source of any concern in the Third Circuit,” Eastman continued. “Indeed, the Third Circuit was made aware of the California Bar ruling but has retained me as an active member of its bar. I look forward to the argument in November and addressing for the Court the very significant issues raised by the appeal.”
Law&Crime reached out to California bar authorities about this story, but no substantive response was forthcoming at the time of publication.
In its own petition, the California bar wanted Eastman’s case to stand “as future citable authority,” but was ultimately rebuffed.
The post John Eastman is disbarred in California for his Trump-related work but practicing law on the federal bench and decrying ‘despicable cancel culture’ first appeared on Law & Crime.
