License and Registration, Please

In order to be licensed to practice law in California, attorneys must swear the following oath: I solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of an attorney and counselor at law to the best of my knowledge and ability. As an officer of the court, I will strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy, and integrity.

John Eastman violated that oath. As one of the central architects of the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, he pushed lies about fraud in the election and promoted false legal theories about how Trump could stay in power—including at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, just before the Capitol attack. A judge later called Eastman’s strategies “a coup in search of a legal theory.”

That’s why, in 2021, States United asked the California State Bar—the organization that issues California law licenses and that is responsible for disciplining attorneys—to investigate Eastman for professional misconduct. Our complaint was co-signed by a group of bipartisan experts, including former federal and California judges, leading law professors, ethics advisers from the Bush and Obama administrations, and more.

Now, nearly five years after we filed our first complaint, Eastman’s California law license has been revoked. (His D.C. law license was also suspended, pending a final decision in California.)

“This decision is part of a broader reckoning for those who seek to undermine the rule of law in this country,” States United’s Christine Sun said in a statement. “While Trump tries to consolidate power, the states and courts continue to successfully check executive overreach and the unlawful actions of his administration.

“As we look to this year’s midterm elections and beyond, the California Supreme Court has sent a clear message: Lawyers who misuse their power to undermine our free and fair elections will face severe consequences.”

This Week in Democracy

• The California Supreme Court permanently disbarred John Eastman, one of the key architects of the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Eastman’s role in the plot “was incompatible with the standards of integrity required of every California attorney,” said California State Bar Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona. Eastman said he would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  States United filed the initial complaint against Eastman in 2021, urging the State Bar to investigate his misconduct.

  ➡️ READ: Our statement

• More than 70 former military leaders and Vet Voice Foundation, represented by States United and Protect Democracy, filed a brief urging an appeals court to uphold a judge’s ruling that blocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from taking disciplinary action against U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly. Hegseth sought to punish Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy captain, for reminding members of the military and intelligence community that they have an obligation to refuse illegal orders in a video published late last year.

  Hegseth’s actions, if allowed to stand, “would chill public participation by veterans around the country,” the group writes in the brief.

  ➡️ MORE: About the brief

• Federal prosecutors showed up unannounced at the site of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovations, the latest development in President Trump’s effort to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign or lower interest rates. A federal judge last month threw out subpoenas issued against Powell, ruling that there was a “mountain of evidence” that the subpoenas were being used as a political tool.

  Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Trump’s unprecedented influence over federal prosecutions, telling NBC News that Americans should be “happy” that the president is involved. But States United surveys show the opposite: 6 in 10 Americans don’t approve of the president directing the Justice Department to pursue charges against his political opponents.

  ➡️ READ: How Politicized Prosecutions Undermine the Rule of Law

• As lawsuits proceed against Trump’s executive order that targets mail voting, new data from States United shows how popular mail voting was in 2024. The latest numbers show that tens of millions of Americans—of all political parties, ages, races, and more—used mail voting in 2024.

  ➡️ MORE: About our new data

• A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore that sought to force him to turn over private information about his state’s voters. The judge characterized the department’s demands for voters’ data as a “fishing expedition.”

  The department has sued 29 other states and the District of Columbia for similar information. Judges have dismissed the cases against California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon.

  ➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About Federal Efforts to Compile State Voter Data

• The Justice Department asked an appeals court to throw out the convictions of the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump commuted their sentences on the first day of his second term, ending their prison time early—but by trying to toss their convictions entirely, the Trump administration is attempting to rewrite history and treat the charges as if they never happened.

State of the States

In Colorado, the Trump administration denied Gov. Jared Polis’s request for federal funding to aid flood and wildfire recovery efforts. “Colorado communities have done everything right—responding quickly, documenting the damage, and working in good faith with federal partners—only for the Trump administration to deny funding to help Colorado communities recover,” Polis said in a statement.

Trump has been pressuring Polis to release Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of participating in a security breach of election equipment to prove the 2020 election was rigged. The president threatened “harsh measures” if Peters was not freed.

Because Polis has so far refused, the White House has repeatedly targeted Colorado in recent months—including by attempting to cut funding for the state’s food stamp program, vetoing a bill funding a clean water pipeline, and dismantling a federal research laboratory in the state.

➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About Coercive Funding Demands

In Minnesota, local prosecutors are continuing to pursue accountability for federal immigration agents’ misconduct.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher announced that they were investigating the arrest of a U.S. citizen as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary, and false imprisonment. Choi and Fletcher allege that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents broke open the man’s door without a warrant and forcibly removed him from his home at gunpoint.

At a press conference, Fletcher said: “Is that good law enforcement, to take an American citizen out of their home and drive them around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can tell them?”

Separately, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that her office brought felony assault charges against an ICE agent. Prosecutors allege that the agent pointed his handgun at two people while in a moving vehicle.

“Driving while pointing a weapon out of your moving vehicle at the victims who were in another moving vehicle could have led to yet another disastrous incident in a community that has already suffered too many,” Moriarty said at a press conference.

Moriarty said her office is also continuing to investigate 17 other incidents, including the killings of two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

➡️ READ: What’s Breaking Through About Federal Law Enforcement Tactics