On March 27, 2024, the California bar issued its opinion that attorney John Eastman should be stripped of his California bar license as a consequence for failing to support the Constitution and laws of the United States and for misleading courts and the public through his misrepresentations about the 2020 presidential election. This is one more necessary and proper step toward punishing unethical, dangerous misuse of legal tools, and toward deterring future anti-democratic conduct in the legal profession.
In 2021, Joyce Gist Lewis and Adam Sparks, with editing assistance from Anré Washington, argued for precisely this type of action by state bar associations as a bulwark against further misrepresentations and abuses of legal vehicles aimed at tearing down democratic procedures and outcomes under the guide of legal advocacy.
You can read the article arguing for greater accountability through bar association and court disciplinary proceedings, “In Defense of the Foundation Stone: Deterring Post-Election Abuse of the Legal Process,” 55 Ga. L. Rev. 4, 1649 (2021), here.
