John Eastman, the attorney who faces possible disbarment by the California Supreme Court for his role in trying to overturn President Biden’s 2020 election, has designated former California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown as one of seven expert witnesses in the State Bar’s disciplinary proceedings against him. Brown left the court in 2005 when she was nominated to the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, from which she has since retired.
The State Bar is objecting to testimony by Brown and one other designated expert.
Eastman’s attorney says Brown “is expected to testify regarding her opinion that the California State Bar seems to be moving into unchartered [sic] territory with seeking to discipline an attorney on one side of a contentious legal fight.”
In October 2021, before the filing of charges against Eastman, two other former Supreme Court justices — Joseph Grodin and Kathryn Werdegar — signed a letter asking the State Bar to “investigate serious evidence of professional misconduct by Professor John C. Eastman in connection with his representation of former President Donald J. Trump in efforts to discredit and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
The State Bar argues that Brown’s testimony is irrelevant. It also challenges the premise that disciplining Eastman is uncharted territory, noting disciplinary actions taken in other jurisdictions against Trump lawyers Rudolph Giuliani and Jenna Ellis.
The designation says that Brown’s “hourly rate for all of her work (including but not limited to reviewing records, consultation with counsel, and testimony) is $1,200 per hour and reimbursement for all travel expenses.”
Eastman has also designated scores of non-retained experts, “due to their role as percipient witnesses,” including dozens of members of Congress and former President Trump.
Thanks to Horvitz & Levy alum Professor Rick Hasen for alerting us to Eastman’s designation of Brown, which has been reported in a post by Professor Justin Levitt on Rick’s Election Law Blog.
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