Dr. John C. Eastman is Founding Director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence; Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute; and serves as the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law.
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,Economist, Atlantic, Slate, National Catholic Register, and ABA Journal.
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.
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