Conservative groups urge Supreme Court to review John Eastman's California disbarment
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project and America First Policy Institute have filed amicus briefs asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear John Eastman's challenge to his disbarment by California.
Conservative legal organizations, the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project and the America First Policy Institute, filed amicus briefs on Tuesday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Eastman v. State Bar of California in its 2026 term. They claim the California Supreme Court’s affirmation of Eastman's disbarment breaches the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause because the Bar’s Review Department applied strict scrutiny only to the extent it deemed the speech relevant.
The briefs further assert that the disbarment, based on Eastman's advice to Donald Trump about the 2020 election, exceeds the state’s authority and infringes First Amendment rights. AFPI describes the case as the latest episode of a “barfare” campaign targeting conservative lawyers such as Ken Paxton and Jeff Clark. Signatories to the AFPI brief include Cleta Mitchell, Christina Bobb, and former Justice Department official Ed Martin. The Supreme Court has not yet scheduled the petition for argument.
Why it matters
The case could set a precedent on whether state bar actions can be used to punish political speech.
In this story
