Dem
47
GOP
53
"The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine," goes the old saying. And this week, there was an excellent reminder of that, as John Eastman was officially disbarred Wednesday, and will no longer be able to practice law in his home state of California.
Eastman is the law-professor-turned-MAGA-warrior who played a central role in the unsuccessful scheme to try to overturn the 2020 president election result. The problem there is that, as a member of the bar and an officer of the court, Eastman had a duty to uphold the law to the best of his ability. Scheming to overthrow the government is not exactly consistent with that duty, so he joins Rudy Giuliani in the "we used to be lawyers" club.
The important thing here is that it may have taken a while—close to 6 years—but justice was done. That does not always happen with the crooked people in Trump's orbit, but at least it happens sometimes. And we suspect it will happen with greater frequency and greater speed this time around, because Trump's powers are waning, and because the offenses are more egregious. For example, while it took Eastman half a decade to lose his license to practice law, we would not be terribly surprised if former "Attorney General" Pam Bondi lost hers before Trump is even out of office.
And the even MORE important thing is this: Eastman's fate is a reminder, to those who break the law in service of Trump, that doing so constitutes a great professional and personal risk. First, because once Trump no longer has a use for a person, he isn't going to do much to help them with their difficulties. Eastman was left to mount his own defense, pay his own attorney, and now he will pay the fine that was assessed against him. Second, because even if Trump does lift a finger to help (and that's the most you're going to get), he's kind of like the Headless Horseman—his powers have very strict limits. Trump actually did try to "pardon" both Eastman and Giuliani for election-related offenses, but the pardon was useless because they did not and do not face federal criminal charges, and a presidential pardon is irrelevant in civil cases, in state cases, and in Bar proceedings.
Maybe, just maybe, this will cause a few Trump underlings to think twice about the choices they are making, and to behave a little less corruptly. (Z)