The Cornell Law School’s Federalist Society will host John Eastman, a lawyer who was recently disbarred in the state of California for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, on Thursday at noon.
The Cornell Federalist Society is a chapter of the national Federalist Society, a legal group focused on promoting conservative and libertarian theories.
Eastman’s talk will focus on "lawfare," specifically the "politicization of prosecution and the use of legal mechanisms as weapons in an increasingly 'hot' Culture War," according to the CampusGroups posting.
“We ask you to consider whether this invitation reflects the intellectual tradition you wish to represent,” Cornell OutLaw, an organization focused on LGBTQ+ J.D. candidates, wrote to the student body around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, “and whether the message it sends to your classmates, particularly those whose identities Mr. Eastman has made a subject of his advocacy, is one you are prepared to stand behind.”
Eastman was one of the architects of President Donald Trump’s legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election.
He advised then-Vice President Mike Pence that Pence had the constitutional power to block the certification of the election, though Pence did not accept his argument, and also spoke at the White House on January 6 before the Capitol attack.
Eastman made headlines Wednesday when the California Supreme Court upheld his disbarment because of his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
A California judge in 2024 found Eastman “exhibited gross negligence by making false statements about the 2020 election without conducting any meaningful investigation or verification of the information he was relying upon.”
The email sent from Federalist Society Co-President Nikolai Rura on Wednesday night states the event is open to the entire Cornell Law Community, and unlike the Federalist Society’s event featuring Amy Wax — a conservative law professor who is currently suspended for making racist and sexist remarks — the event was posted on CampusGroups.
Wax, who spoke on March 25, addressed the capture of universities by “woke” ideology, especially “feminization” and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Women “are much more concerned with creating a safe space, making people feel good, inclusion, you know, emotional well-being, those sorts of what I call the values of the nursery and the kindergarten,” Wax said during the talk.
By inviting Eastman, “we are no longer in the territory of edgy academic provocation,” the OutLaw executive board wrote. “We are in the territory of speech that does not challenge ideas so much as it assaults the inherent worth of people, including many students in this very building.”
Eastman has denied any wrongdoing, saying he was simply representing Trump. He maintains that the 2020 election was stolen.
Atticus Johnson is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at ajohnson@cornellsun.com.
