John C. Eastman

John C. Eastman (born April 21, 1960) is an American law professor. He is the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service and former dean at the Chapman University School of Law.[1]

John C. Eastman
Eastman (2013)
Born	(1960-04-21) April 21, 1960 Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.
Education	University of Dallas (BA) University of Chicago (JD) Claremont Graduate School (PhD)
Employer	Kirkland & Ellis Chapman University
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Eastman

Education

Eastman earned a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas, Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School, and Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School. During his time in law school, Eastman worked on the University of Chicago Law Review.

Career

Prior to law school, he served as Director of Congressional and Public Affairs at the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1989.[2] He was also the unsuccessful 1990 Republican nominee for United States Congress in the California's 34th congressional district.[3]

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 worked as an attorney for the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in civil and constitutional litigation. He later joined Chapman to teach constitutional law. He has also appeared on the nationally-syndicated Hugh Hewitt show commenting on law.[4]

Politics and law

On February 1, 2010, Eastman resigned as Dean of the Chapman University School of Law to pursue the Republican nomination for California Attorney General.[5] He finished second in the primary to Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who lost to Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2010 general election.

Eastman served as a attorney for the State of South Dakota, representing it in a denied petition to the Supreme Court of the United States in a constitutional challenge to federal spending.[6] He has also represented the North Carolina legislature and the State of Arizona in unsuccessfully petitioning the Supreme Court in cases involving same-sex marriage,[7] abortion,[8] and immigration.[9]

He testified before before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2014 arguing that President Barack Obama's unilateral suspension of deportation for illegal immigrants was unconstitutional.[10]

Kamala Harris citizenship conspiracy theory

Main article: Kamala Harris citizenship conspiracy theories

A Newsweek op-ed by Eastman questioning the citizenship of 2020 vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris's parents questioned whether she was ineligible for the office because Eastman claimed she may not be a natural born citizen, despite being born in Oakland, California. The op-ed was quickly and thoroughly discredited by prominent legal scholars and was compared to the widely condemned birther-ism conspiracy theory against President Barack Obama. Newsweek defended the column, stating there was no connection between the op-ed and the birther movement, and that the op-ed was merely focusing on the "long-standing, somewhat arcane legal debate about the precise meaning of the phrase 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' in the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment".[11] However, Axios noted that Eastman's view was not accepted by constitutional law scholars, and labeled it "baseless", while also criticizing him for how he comparatively brushed off the eligibility concerns of 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz, born in Calgary, Canada, in a 2016 National Review op-ed, claiming they were "silly".[12]

Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of Berkeley Law School, dismissed Eastman's legal reasoning, telling the BBC: "Under section 1 of the 14th Amendment, anyone born in the United States is a United States citizen. "The Supreme Court has held this since the 1890s. Kamala Harris was born in the United States."[13] Laurence Tribe, an eminent professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, similarly criticized Eastman’s reasoning, telling The New York Times “I hadn’t wanted to comment on [Eastman’s idea] because it’s such an idiotic theory. There is nothing to it.”[14]

References

1. "Faculty Profile". www.chapman.edu.
2. "John C. Eastman - C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org.
3. "California's 34th Congressional District - Ballotpedia".
4. "Dean John Eastman On The Powers Of The Senate Vis-à-vis The SCOTUS Vacancy « The Hugh Hewitt Show". The Hugh Hewitt Show. February 15, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
5. "Eastman resigns as Dean of the Chapman University School of Law"; accessed April 27, 2014. Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
6. "Search - Supreme Court of the United States". www.supremecourt.gov.
7. "Search - Supreme Court of the United States". www.supremecourt.gov.
8. "Search - Supreme Court of the United States". www.supremecourt.gov.
9. "Search - Supreme Court of the United States". www.supremecourt.gov.
10. "'Prosecutorial Discretion' Does Not Allow the President to 'Change the Law'" (PDF). Hearing on “Keeping Families Together: The President’s Executive Action On Immigration And The Need To Pass Comprehensive Reform”. December 10, 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
11. "Editor's Note: Eastman's Newsweek column has nothing to do with racist birtherism". Newsweek. August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
12. Savitsky, Shane. "Trump campaign official pushes baseless Newsweek op-ed claiming Harris may not be VP-eligible". Axios. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
13. "Trump stokes 'birther' conspiracy theory about Kamala Harris - BBC News". Bbc.com. October 20, 1964. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
14. Katie Rogers. "Trump Encourages Racist Conspiracy Theory About Kamala Harris - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved August 14, 2020.

External links

• Biography, Claremont Institute; accessed April 27, 2014.
• Biodata, Chapman University School of Law website; accessed April 27, 2014.
• papers.ssrn.com; accessed April 27, 2014.

Academic offices
Preceded by Parham Williams	3rd Dean of the Chapman University School of Law 2007–2010	Succeeded by Tom Campbell