John

About John

John Eastman is a candidate for California Attorney General. As one of California’s foremost legal minds, he has argued cases at the nation’s highest courts on core principles of public safety, freedom and constitutional law.
 
John believes the law exists to protect our basic freedoms, and that California’s Attorney General must tirelessly defend those freedoms as well.
 
First and foremost, this means the freedom to live without fear of violent crime.  The Attorney General is California’s top law enforcement official, and John Eastman will vigorously pursue the rights of law-abiding citizens and victims over criminals.
 
The Attorney General is also the People’s lawyer, and must zealously defend the people’s will and not use this powerful office to promote his own political agenda outside the law.
 
And lastly but equally important, the Attorney General must always stand for firm constitutional principles such as freedom of religion and speech, property rights, and the rule of law.

John's Biography

John Eastman is campaigning for the Republican nomination to the office of California Attorney General, and would bring a commitment to public safety and a grounding in constitutional principles to the office that it is currently sorely lacking.  Eastman understands that California’s Attorney General is simultaneously the top law enforcement official in the state, the People’s lawyer, and a defender of freedom, liberty, and constitutional rights.

Eastman served as Dean of the Chapman University School of Law from 2007 to February 2010.  He joined the Chapman law faculty in August 1999, specializing in Constitutional Law, Legal History, and Property.  He was named Interim Associate Dean of Administration in August 2006, and appointed Dean in June 2007.  He also serves as the Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999.  He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and is Chairman of the Federalist Society’s Federalism & Separation of Powers practice group.

Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, representing major clients in federal and state courts and with respect to State Attorneys General investigations, in complex commercial contract litigation and in consumer litigation.  Dr. Eastman has also represented numerous clients in important constitutional law matters, including Nevada State Legislators and taxpayers in Angle v. The Legislature of the State of Nevada and Guinn v. The Legislature of the State of Nevada, challenging the validity of the Nevada Supreme Court’s mandamus to the legislature to ignore the 2/3 vote requirement for tax increases contained in the Nevada Constitution; The Lincoln Club of Orange County’s successful First Amendment challenge to the City of Irvine’s campaign finance ordinance in The Lincoln Club v. Irvine; Pastor Rick Warren’s successful defense of the parsonage exemption against an Establishment Clause challenge in Warren v. Commissioner; and the Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation in its successful appeal in Southwest Center v. Berg reversing a district court denial of its motion to intervene in environmental litigation involving the property rights of its members.  On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State Supreme Courts in numerous cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, United States v. Morrison, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the school vouchers case), Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger (the Michigan affirmative action cases), Newdow v. U.S. Congress (the Pledge case), Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, and Van Orden v. Perry (the 10 Commandments case).

Dr. Eastman has appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, PBS, The O’Reilly Factor, OCN, NPR, KNX in Los Angeles, KFWB in Los Angeles, WABC in New York, the Michael Reagan Show, the Jane Chastain Show, the Michael Jackson show, Airtalk with Larry Mantle, and LA Live with Duffy, and has presented testimony before the U.S. Congress, including before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence regarding news media liability for publication of classified information. His November 2000 testimony before the Florida Select Joint Committee on the Manner of Appointment of Presidential Electors was carried live by C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, and numerous other networks throughout the world. He provided commentary on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Boy Scouts case that was carried by CBS Radio in New York, CNS Radio, The Associated Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox Television and Reuters News Service, among others.  He has a weekly segment on the nationally-syndicated Hugh Hewitt show debating current legal issues with UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, publishes an occasional column entitled “First Principles” in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals, and has published numerous op-eds in newspapers around the country, including the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Times, and the Orange County Register.

Dr. Eastman also serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster in his son’s Boy Scout Troop.