CALIFORNIA — The California Supreme Court disbarred John Eastman on April 15, 2026, upholding a State Bar Court recommendation and ordering him to pay $5,000 in sanctions. Eastman had pushed for then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject electors from contested states following the 2020 presidential election, which would have overturned the results.

Disbarment proceedings began in 2023 after counsel for the State Bar of California asked a court to revoke Eastman's law license following an ethics investigation. He faced 11 disciplinary charges alleging he pushed a legal theory to help overturn the 2020 election. In 2024, a judge found Eastman culpable on 10 of the 11 charges and recommended disbarment.

Eastman's attorney, Randall A. Miller, said in a statement that Eastman will seek review of the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. "The California Supreme Court has allowed to stand a State Bar Court recommendation that we contend departs from long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent protecting First Amendment rights, especially in the attorney discipline context," Miller said. He added: "We disagree with that outcome and believe it raises pivotal constitutional concerns regarding the limits of state regulation of attorney speech."

Evidence presented by the House Jan. 6 committee in 2022 showed that Eastman had acknowledged the plan was not legal. Days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Eastman asked Rudy Giuliani to include him on a list of people President Donald Trump would pardon. He was not pardoned at that time.

In 2025, Trump issued pardons for people alleged to have been involved in the fake electors scheme, including Eastman and Giuliani. Those pardons applied only at the federal level. Eastman and more than 70 other people listed did not face federal charges. Giuliani has been disbarred in both New York and Washington, D.C.

Eastman was also accused alongside Trump and 17 other co-defendants of violating Georgia's racketeering laws. He pleaded not guilty. In 2025, the state prosecutor dropped the Georgia racketeering charges against Trump, Eastman, and the other co-defendants.

Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell described Eastman's disbarment as "disgusting and so wrong" in a post on X.