Trump Grants Pardon to Disbarred Orange County College Dean

Former Chapman University dean John Eastman has been granted a shield to defend his public image with U.S. President Donald Trump’s pardon.

Eastman, an attorney, is accused of backing the Republican Party’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which unseated Trump and declared Joe Biden the winner.

Trump’s pardon of Eastman, announced by Department of Justice pardon attorney Ed Martin, came as part of a broader wave of clemency for embattled allies that Democrats, like U.S.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), sharply criticized. Durbin noted that Martin is the first political appointee to ever hold the pardon attorney position.

“Mr. Martin has also personally advocated pardoning Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and others who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in planning and instigating the violence against law enforcement on January 6, 2021,” Durbin said in a statement online.

In 2023, the Department of Justice accused five Proud Boy members of plotting to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power while four Oath Keepers members were accused of disrupting a U.S. Congress session that was in the process of counting presidential electoral votes.

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation,” Trump stated in the declaration.

No Comment From Eastman nor Chapman University

Neither Eastman nor Chapman University responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Eastman worked as a law professor at Chapman University in Orange County since 1999 and was the Dale E. Fowler School of Law dean from 2007 to 2010.

“This was a tremendous fall from grace,” former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of California Neama Rahmani told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “A presidential pardon helps his image. It’s a preemptive pardon. He is not going to be a charged or convicted federal felon.”

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The pardon of Eastman included clemency for 67 others including attorney Sidney Powell, former North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows, attorney and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and attorney Jenna Ellis.

Eastman already faced serious professional sanctions when he was disbarred from practicing law in California effective March 30, 2024.

At least one Southern California lawyer views the pardon as a symbol of political reward but one that does not have the local ability to alter California’s disciplinary system for attorney misconduct.

“Should Eastman seek reinstatement to the practice of law in California, he will be required to demonstrate an adequate level of rehabilitation from the professional misconduct that led to his disbarment, accept responsibility for his wrongdoing, and demonstrate that he possesses the requisite moral fitness to practice law in California,” Los Angeles Trial Attorney Jamie Wright told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “A pardon will not expedite the reinstatement process.”

For Rahmani, the core lesson for attorneys is simple. “You need to follow the law, not just do what your client wants especially when you have sworn an oath to the Constitution and built a career teaching constitutional law,” he added.

*Photo Credit: Photo of Donald Trump created with Grok