The California Supreme Court stripped conservative attorney John Eastman of his law license on Wednesday over purported efforts to overturn President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The court did not immediately release an opinion explaining its decision, which followed a state bar court's determination that Eastman violated attorney ethics rules.
Eastman's disbarment "affirms the fundamental principle that attorneys must act with honesty and uphold the rule of law, regardless of the client they represent or the context in which that representation occurs," George Cardona, the State Bar of California's chief trial counsel, said in a statement.
Randall Miller, Eastman's lawyer, said in a statement they would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A former law professor at Chapman University in California, Eastman represented Trump in a lawsuit at the Supreme Court that sought to invalidate votes in four states where the Republican former president had claimed evidence of widespread 2020 voter fraud.
Eastman also drafted legal memos weeks after the election suggesting then-Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to accept electoral votes from several swing states when Congress convened to certify the vote count. Pence rebuffed his arguments, saying he did not have legal authority to do so under the U.S. Constitution.(Reporting by David Thomas; Editing by Nia Williams)
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