Why the 'moral turpitude' argument for disbarring ex-Trump lawyer could be so damning

01 April 2024

John C. Eastman was among the far-right attorneys who tried to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results and is now a co-defendant in Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference/RICO case against the former president.

Unlike fellow co-defendants Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, however, Eastman has not made a plea deal with Willis' office. And in addition to possibly going to state prison if he is found guilty in Willis' case, Eastman is facing the possibly of being disbarred in California.

In late March, a court recommended Eastman be disbarred.

Author Gabriel Schoenfeld examines that recommendation in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on April 1.

"A trial concluded last week in California's state bar court entailing months of testimony and argument over the question of whether he should be sanctioned for violating the state's legal code of ethics," Schoenfeld explains. "At issue was alleged 'misconduct surrounding Eastman's involvement in the efforts to reject, delay and/or obstruct the electoral vote after the 2020 presidential election.' After hearing all the evidence, Judge Yvette Roland found, in a 128-page decision, that 'Eastman's wrongdoing constitutes exceptionally serious ethical violations,' and she ruled that 'the most severe available professional sanction is warranted to protect the public.'"

Schoenfeld adds, "That most severe penalty is disbarment, a final ruling on which will ultimately come before the California Supreme Court. In the interim, Eastman has been ordered to 'involuntary inactive status.' In other words, his law license has been suspended."

The author goes on to explain why Eastman's actions after the 2020 election were so egregious.

"The most serious charge in the disbarment proceedings against Eastman was that he had 'conspired with President Trump to obstruct a lawful function of the government of the United States — specifically, by conspiring to disrupt the electoral count on January 6, 2021,'" Schoenfeld observes. "But also among the eleven charges against Eastman were eight counts of moral turpitude…. Moral turpitude is generally understood in American law to encompass acts 'of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellow men,' or 'wicked, deviant behavior constituting an immoral, unethical, or unjust departure from ordinary social standards such that it would shock a community.'"

Schoenfeld adds, "Eastman has been found guilty of seven counts of just such moral turpitude."

Gabriel Schoenfeld's full report for The Bulwark is available at this link.

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