John Eastman Biography
John c. Eastman is an American legal scholar who is a former tenured professor of law and former dean at the Chapman University school of Law. A former law clerk to supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, he is the founding director of the center for constitutional jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the conservative think tank Claremont Institute. Eastman ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for California’s 34th congressional district in 1990, and for the office of California Attorney General in 2010.
How old is John Eastman? – Age
Eastman was born on April 21, 1960, Lincoln, Nebraska in United States. He is 60 years old as of year 2020.
John Eastman Career
After law school, he clerked for judge J. Michael Luttig at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme court of the United States, then was an attorney with the law firm of Kirkland &Ellis, specializing in civil and constitutional litigation.
Eastman served as an attorney for the state of South Dakota, representing it in a denied petition to the U.S supreme court in a constitutional challenge to federal spending. Eastman has represented the North Carolina legislature and the state of Arizona in unsuccessfully petitioning the supreme court in cases involving same sex marriage, abortion, and immigration. He testified before the senate Judiciary committee in 2014 arguing that president Barack Obama’s unilateral suspension of deportation for illegal immigrants was unconstitutional.
Elections 1990
In 1990 Eastman was unopposed in the primary to become the Republican challenger of long term 34th District incumbent Esteban Torres in California’s San Gabriel Valley
California Attorney General campaign
On February 1, 2010, Eastman resigned as Dean of the Chapman University school of Law to pursue the Republican nomination for California Attorney General. On April 1, a superior court judge denied Eastman’s choice for ballot designation, “Assistant Attorney General”, fearing that use of this title, granted by South Dakota for his work on a lawsuit, would be misperceived as a California title. Eastman finished second in the three-way Republican primary with 34.2% of the vote, behind Los Angeles county District Attorney Steve Cooley. Cooley advanced to the 2010 California Attorney General election, where he was defeated by Kamala Harris.
Body affiliations
Eastman is chairman of the federalist society’s federalism &separation of powers practice group. He is chairman of the board of the National organization for marriage and a director of the public Interest Legal Foundation. He sits on the board of advisors of St. Monica’s Academy and the advisory board of the St. Thomas more Law society of Orange county.
Kamala Harris citizenship op-ed
In August 2020, Newsweek published an op-ed by Eastman questioning 2020 vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s eligibility for the office. Eastman said that she could have subsequently obtained citizenship derived from the naturalization of her parents if one of them had become a citizen prior to her 16th birthday in 1980, which would have allowed Harris to fulfill the nine year citizenship requirement required to become a senator.
2020 presidential election
On December 9, 2020, Eastman represented U.S president Donald Trump in a motion to intervene in Texas v. Pennsylvania, a case filed directly in the U.S supreme court by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, in which the state of Texas sought to annul the voting processes and, by extension, the electoral college results of at least four other states.
On December 13, 2020, 159 Chapman University faculty published a statement condemning Eastman. On January 9, 2021, the chairman of Chapman’s Board of Trustees and two other members called on the University’s president and provost and law school’s Dean “to promptly take action against Eastman for his role in the events of Jan. The University of Colorado cancelled Eastman’s spring 2021 courses due to low enrollment.
John Eastman Net worth
Eastman has a estimated net worth of $28 million largely based on the estimated salary and income of $2.8 million as an actor.