{"id":162964,"date":"2026-09-15T15:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T23:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/15\/amy-wax-adds-disbarred-coup-lawyer-john-eastman-for-that-accountability-is-persecution-energy\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T15:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T23:12:07","slug":"amy-wax-adds-disbarred-coup-lawyer-john-eastman-for-that-accountability-is-persecution-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/15\/amy-wax-adds-disbarred-coup-lawyer-john-eastman-for-that-accountability-is-persecution-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Amy Wax Adds Disbarred Coup Lawyer John Eastman For That \u2018Accountability Is Persecution\u2019 Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy Wax and John Eastman are teaming up! It\u2019s the buddy comedy you never knew you didn\u2019t need at all. <\/p>\n

Wax continues her fight against the University of Pennsylvania for imposing the barest of minimum sanctions<\/a> against the professor after years of embarrassing the school<\/a>, baselessly denigrating minority students<\/a>, and bringing white nationalists to campus<\/a>. And now she has brought on Eastman \u2014 author of the memo explaining how Mike Pence could simply declare Trump as the winner of the 2020 election \u2014 to help with her state court suit and potential federal appeal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

California disbarred John Eastman earlier this year<\/a>, by the way. In its decision, the California Supreme Court adopted a 2024 recommendation finding Eastman culpable on 10 disciplinary counts<\/a> relating to Eastman\u2019s efforts to overturn the election. Last week, the ACLJ \u2014 which is like the ACLU except for the kind of guys who can\u2019t visit their kids anymore because of January 6 \u2014 filed a cert petition<\/a> asking the Supreme Court to overturn California\u2019s decision. He has unironically compared the disbarment to the persecution of Jesus<\/a>, which makes sense if you read \u201crender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s\u201d as a literal call to authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

Undeterred by the ultimate deterrence the profession has at its disposal, Eastman\u2019s now taking his coup curious talents to Pennsylvania to help Amy Wax. Because few lawyers understand the struggle of refusing to accept the natural professional consequences of one\u2019s actions like John Eastman.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI was delighted to accept Professor Wax\u2019s request to represent her on this important appeal,\u201d Eastman wrote in a statement. \u201cIn many ways, Penn\u2019s efforts to cancel her are part of a broader, despicable cancel culture of which my own Cal Bar proceedings are a part.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Well, if we\u2019re getting technical, \u201ccancel culture\u201d would be disbarring you for being a Donald Trump supporter. Instead, you were disbarred because the court found you joined a conspiracy to \u201cillegally disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joseph Biden, knowing that there was no good faith theory or argument to lawfully reject the electoral votes of any state or delay the January 6 electoral count.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tomato, To-ma-toh.<\/p>\n

Wax already tried to challenge her punishment in federal court as\u00a0\u201cdiscriminating against her as a White Jewish woman and\u00a0something something<\/em>\u00a0First Amendment.\u201d It did not work<\/a>, but she\u2019s hoping the Third Circuit might still bail her out on that one. And so Wax ran to state court<\/a>, filing last November in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, to argue a variety of procedural deficiencies with her punishment. Complaints like the school not allowing her to confront witnesses and acting on hearsay, as though the primary evidence wasn\u2019t things she actually said and did in public<\/em>. You don\u2019t need witnesses when the statements were streamed out on webcasts straight from the horse\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n

She wrote newspaper articles about white \u201ccultural\u201d superiority<\/a>, lied about Black law student grades on a webcast<\/a>, and posted about how the country needs \u201cfewer Asians\u201d<\/a> on a Substack. The case against her isn\u2019t exactly a whisper campaign. She put together the highlight reel herself and then draped herself in \u201cacademic freedom,\u201d as though blog comment boards were advancing legal scholarship. Throughout this process, Wax consistently confused the freedom afforded a scholar to pursue rigorous research into unorthodox topics with the freedom to mouth off without consequence simply because her title is \u201cProfessor.\u201d Once the university finally disabused her of that notion, she threw a litigation tantrum.<\/p>\n

Legally, adding Eastman is a bizarre move. \u201cI look forward to the argument in November and addressing for the Court the very significant issues raised by the appeal,\u201d Eastman said in a statement reported by the Daily Pennsylvanian. How exactly does this work? Disbarred lawyers can\u2019t get pro hac vice admission. Eastman was admitted in California and D.C. and is no longer eligible to practice in either (his license is suspended in D.C.<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Wax already has Holtzman Vogel, a functioning Republican law firm that has carried this litigation from the beginning. Eastman doesn\u2019t bring legal firepower as much as create a performative sideshow. But, of course, that\u2019s kind of the point. The reason these people rail against \u201ccancel culture\u201d is because they see themselves as the stars of their own personal drama. Bringing in Eastman just adds a big name guest star in time for the Emmy season in their own minds.<\/p>\n

Maybe he thinks he can enter an appearance if Mike Pence has the courage.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Amy Wax Adds Disbarred Coup Lawyer John Eastman For That \u2018Accountability Is Persecution\u2019 Energy<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amy Wax and John Eastman are teaming up! It\u2019s the buddy comedy you never knew you didn\u2019t need at all. <\/p>\n

Wax continues her fight against the University of Pennsylvania for imposing the barest of minimum sanctions<\/a> against the professor after years of embarrassing the school<\/a>, baselessly denigrating minority students<\/a>, and bringing white nationalists to campus<\/a>. And now she has brought on Eastman \u2014 author of the memo explaining how Mike Pence could simply declare Trump as the winner of the 2020 election \u2014 to help with her state court suit and potential federal appeal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

California disbarred John Eastman earlier this year<\/a>, by the way. In its decision, the California Supreme Court adopted a 2024 recommendation finding Eastman culpable on 10 disciplinary counts<\/a> relating to Eastman\u2019s efforts to overturn the election. Last week, the ACLJ \u2014 which is like the ACLU except for the kind of guys who can\u2019t visit their kids anymore because of January 6 \u2014 filed a cert petition<\/a> asking the Supreme Court to overturn California\u2019s decision. He has unironically compared the disbarment to the persecution of Jesus<\/a>, which makes sense if you read \u201crender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s\u201d as a literal call to authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

Undeterred by the ultimate deterrence the profession has at its disposal, Eastman\u2019s now taking his coup curious talents to Pennsylvania to help Amy Wax. Because few lawyers understand the struggle of refusing to accept the natural professional consequences of one\u2019s actions like John Eastman.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI was delighted to accept Professor Wax\u2019s request to represent her on this important appeal,\u201d Eastman wrote in a statement. \u201cIn many ways, Penn\u2019s efforts to cancel her are part of a broader, despicable cancel culture of which my own Cal Bar proceedings are a part.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Well, if we\u2019re getting technical, \u201ccancel culture\u201d would be disbarring you for being a Donald Trump supporter. Instead, you were disbarred because the court found you joined a conspiracy to \u201cillegally disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joseph Biden, knowing that there was no good faith theory or argument to lawfully reject the electoral votes of any state or delay the January 6 electoral count.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tomato, To-ma-toh.<\/p>\n

Wax already tried to challenge her punishment in federal court as\u00a0\u201cdiscriminating against her as a White Jewish woman and\u00a0something something<\/em>\u00a0First Amendment.\u201d It did not work<\/a>, but she\u2019s hoping the Third Circuit might still bail her out on that one. And so Wax ran to state court<\/a>, filing last November in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, to argue a variety of procedural deficiencies with her punishment. Complaints like the school not allowing her to confront witnesses and acting on hearsay, as though the primary evidence wasn\u2019t things she actually said and did in public<\/em>. You don\u2019t need witnesses when the statements were streamed out on webcasts straight from the horse\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n

She wrote newspaper articles about white \u201ccultural\u201d superiority<\/a>, lied about Black law student grades on a webcast<\/a>, and posted about how the country needs \u201cfewer Asians\u201d<\/a> on a Substack. The case against her isn\u2019t exactly a whisper campaign. She put together the highlight reel herself and then draped herself in \u201cacademic freedom,\u201d as though blog comment boards were advancing legal scholarship. Throughout this process, Wax consistently confused the freedom afforded a scholar to pursue rigorous research into unorthodox topics with the freedom to mouth off without consequence simply because her title is \u201cProfessor.\u201d Once the university finally disabused her of that notion, she threw a litigation tantrum.<\/p>\n

Legally, adding Eastman is a bizarre move. \u201cI look forward to the argument in November and addressing for the Court the very significant issues raised by the appeal,\u201d Eastman said in a statement reported by the Daily Pennsylvanian. How exactly does this work? Disbarred lawyers can\u2019t get pro hac vice admission. Eastman was admitted in California and D.C. and is no longer eligible to practice in either (his license is suspended in D.C.<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Wax already has Holtzman Vogel, a functioning Republican law firm that has carried this litigation from the beginning. Eastman doesn\u2019t bring legal firepower as much as create a performative sideshow. But, of course, that\u2019s kind of the point. The reason these people rail against \u201ccancel culture\u201d is because they see themselves as the stars of their own personal drama. Bringing in Eastman just adds a big name guest star in time for the Emmy season in their own minds.<\/p>\n

Maybe he thinks he can enter an appearance if Mike Pence has the courage.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Amy Wax Adds Disbarred Coup Lawyer John Eastman For That \u2018Accountability Is Persecution\u2019 Energy<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy Wax and John Eastman are teaming up! It\u2019s the buddy comedy you never knew you didn\u2019t need at all. Wax continues her fight against the University of Pennsylvania for imposing the barest of minimum sanctions against the professor after years of embarrassing the school, baselessly denigrating minority students, and bringing white nationalists to campus. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}