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Author
John C. Eastman
Dr. John C. Eastman is Founding Director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, and currently serves as the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute.
Dr. Eastman received his B.A. from the University of Dallas, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Claremont Graduate School. He completed his studies at the University of Chicago Law School, earning his J.D. in 1995 and immediately took a position clerking for Judge Michael Luttig in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 1996 to 1997 he served as a law clerk with the Honorable Justice Clarence Thomas in the United States Supreme Court. After concluding his clerkships, Dr. Eastman took a position with Kirkland & Ellis in Los Angeles until 1999.
Upon leaving Kirkland & Ellis, Dr. Eastman took up his current post, teaching at Chapman University where he served as dean from 2007 to 2010. He also founded the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence in 1999, and has served as its Director since that time.
Dr. Eastman also serves as the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, and is on the Advisory Board for the St. Thomas More Society of Orange County. He has been recognized by Chapman University as Professor of the Year (2002) and for Faculty Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activity (2013). Additionally, he received the St. Thomas More Award from Franciscan University (2010) and the J. Reuben Clark Award from the J. Reuben Clark Society of Orange County (2010).
Dr. Eastman is a prolific author. A selection of his scholarly publications include “The Moral Conditions of Liberty” in Freedom and the Rule of Law (2009), “The Roberts Court and Federalism,” in the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty (2009), and “Full Faith and Republican Guarantees: Gay Marriage, FMPA, and the Courts,” in the BYU Law Journal (2006).
Dr. Eastman has been invited several times to address various committees of Congress, on topics including President Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration and the IRS’s felonious disclosure of tax returns.
In the courtroom, Dr. Eastman has represented seventeen parties before the Supreme Court of the United States. He has also represented over 75 amici before the Supreme Court in cases such as Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores (2014), Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell (2014), Harris v. Quinn (2014), National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning (2014), National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012), Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), and Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000).
Dr. Eastman has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, BBC World News, and PBS. His writings and commentary on the courts and the constitution have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Review the Economist, the Atlantic,Slate, the National Catholic Register, and the ABA Journal.
Articles by John C. Eastman
Antonin Scalia's lasting effect on jurisprudence.
The Court Will Consider Justice Scalia’s Invitation, Posthumously
A full reconsideration of Auer is now on the Supreme Court’s docket.
The President’s Power to Keep Congress at Work
It might be time to cancel the Senate's August recess.
The Supreme Court vs. The Wild, Wild, West
The 9th Circuit is out on a lawless limb.
The Self-Perpetuating Swamp
The progressive movement's longstanding goal is to create governing agencies that are not accountable to elected officials.
Misdirection by Indictment?
Mueller, Manafort, and Podesta.
Napolitano’s Chutzpa
DACA today.
Damaging Information
The accusations against Trump Jr. are laughably erroneous.
The Politics of Personal Destruction
Calls for civility fall on deaf ears.
President Trump, Meet the Real President Jackson
President Trump, Meet the Real President Jackson
The Constitutionalist Revolution
Washington still doesn't get it.
Abood: The Ghoul Lives to See Another Day
Justice Scalia's absence from the Supreme Court is keenly felt.
Justice Antonin Scalia RIP
John C. Eastman remembers Justice Antonin Scalia.
Birthright Citizenship
John C. Eastman and Linda Chavez discuss the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship.
Fiat Lex
President Obama is advancing his radical gun-control agenda with nothing more than his executive pen.
Unsettled Resettlement
Can the States Prevent Immigration of Potential Jihadists? Lessons from the Import-Export Clause
Why Not Choose a Rhinoceros to be Speaker?
Think just anyone can be Speaker of the House? Think again
Down to the Bare Wood
Understanding Clarence Thomas is Ralph Rossum's second study of the jurisprudence of "originalist" Justices on the Supreme Court.
Restoring the general to the general welfare clause
We are a religious people…
We are a religious people.
Judicial review of unenumerated rights
Writ of Error
A review of The Conservative Assault on the Constitution, by Erwin Chemerinsky
Kennedy’s Partial Birth Abortion Decision Invites Long-Overdue Dialogue
John C. Eastman discusses the Supreme Court's decision upholding the 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
Be Very Wary of Restricting President’s Power
John C. Eastman discusses the Commander in Chief clause and the inherent power of Presidents to conduct surveillance of enemy communications when they are most critically needed.
Colorblind Justice
Examining Justice Clarence Thomas's jurisprudential philosophy.
Altered States
The lesson drawn by Judge Noon is that the Court should more or less abdicate its responsibility for enforcing the Constitution's limits.