He is also the founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, representing major corporate clients in federal and state courts and with respect to State Attorneys General investigations, in complex commercial contract litigation, and in consumer litigation. Dr. Eastman has also represented various pro bono clients in matters involving property rights, economic opportunity, and first amendment freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom of religion issues. On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States in several cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, United States v. Morrison, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the Ohio School Voucher case), Grutter v. Bollinger (the Michigan affirmative action case), Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (the Pledge of Allegiance case), Van Orden v. Perry (the Ten Commandments case), and Kelo v. New London, Connecticut (eminent domain abuse).
Dr. Eastman has a weekly segment on the nationally-syndicated Hugh Hewitt show debating current legal issues with Duke Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky. He has appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, OCN, NPR, KNX in Los Angeles, KFWB in Los Angeles, WABC in New York, the Michael Reagan Show, the Jane Chastain Show, the Michael Jackson show, Airtalk with Larry Mantle, L.A. Live with Duffy, the O'Reilly Factor (Fox), and the Newshour with Jim Lehrer (PBS). He provided commentary on the Supreme Court's decision in the Boy Scouts case that was carried by CBS Radio in New York, CNS Radio, The Associated Press, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox Television and Reuters News Service, and his testimony before the Florida Legislature's Select Committee on the 2000 Election was carried live by major media outlets around the world. Eastman publishes a periodic column entitled "First Principles" in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals, and he has published numerous op-eds in newspapers around the country, including the Washington Post, the Orange County Register, and the Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Eastman also serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster in his son's Boy Scout Troop and enjoys camping, golfing, and travel with his wife and two children.
Articles
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Eastman: President Bush’s Christmas Present
December 3, 2001 ::
Director of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and Professor of Law at Chapman University, John Eastman, on President Bush’s announcement that the United States would be withdrawing from the ABM Treaty.
