‘Outrageous Act of Retribution’: Legal Analyst Mark Pulliam Blasts Eastman Disbarment

Kaitlin Housler

Legal commentator and retired attorney Mark Pulliam argued that the disbarment of constitutional scholar and former Trump attorney John Eastman represents a significant constitutional dispute that is likely headed for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The California Supreme Court last week ordered Eastman disbarred after denying his petitions for review, adopting earlier findings that he committed professional misconduct tied to his legal advice regarding the 2020 presidential election.

The ruling removes Eastman from the practice of law in California and follows state bar proceedings that found he advanced false claims and misled officials in efforts related to contesting the election results.

During Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pulliam framed the disbarment of Eastman as an unprecedented use of attorney discipline powers.

“There’s only one place it can go, and that’s to the Supreme Court,” he said, emphasizing that the case now hinges on federal constitutional review.

Pulliam argued that Eastman’s conduct does not resemble traditional grounds for disbarment.

“Normally, that would be you have a lawyer who has stolen money from clients… had some kind of sexual misconduct… None of those things apply to John Eastman,” he stated. Instead, he described Eastman as “one of the foremost constitutional scholars of our day.”

Noting how Eastman’s case centers on legal advice he provided to President Donald Trump following the 2020 election, Pulliam characterized the underlying constitutional questions as unsettled.

“This is not an open and shut, black and white issue. He came up with what was an aggressive interpretation of these precedents,” he said.

Pulliam further argued that the disciplinary action reflects political bias rather than professional misconduct.

“We just don’t like the advice that you gave to President Trump. That’s it. And we’re gonna ruin your life,” he said, summarizing what he views as the rationale behind the ruling.

Referencing figures from early American history to civil rights litigation, Pulliam argued that attorneys have traditionally been protected when representing unpopular causes.

“We have an adversarial system of justice,” he said. “Starting with John Adams back in the colonial era, defending British soldiers in the Boston Massacre. Massacre. Then you have civil rights activism through the NAACP, the ACLU…Even if you go back to, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch represents this hated person who ends up getting lynched by the mob anyway. The American Bar used to be proud of Atticus Finch standing up to the mob.”

“Now, the organized Bar has become the mob. They’re the mob that snatched Atticus Finch’s client out of the jail and lynched him. And this is turning our legal system upside down,” he said.

Pulliam described the disciplinary process as unjust and, in Eastman’s case, an “outrageous act of retribution” by a “kangaroo court.”

“I think if you have a lawyer telling something to a client and the state comes in and says, ‘No, you are gonna be punished for that,’ to me, that’s just a strict infringement of free speech. And I think this is so outrageous, so out of bounds and represents such a gross deviation from all the norms,” he added.

Looking ahead, Pulliam predicted that the nation’s highest court will take up the case and potentially reverse the outcome.

“I think they have to,” he said. “If they want the legal system to be respected, it has to have integrity, and this disbarment is just the antithesis of integrity.”

He also warned of a chilling effect on attorneys nationwide.

“This is turning into a… message to conservative lawyers all across the country—if you get involved in a highly charged case, you will be ruined for it,” Pulliam said.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.

 

 

 

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