Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

appalachiablue

(41,052 posts)
Thu Jan 14, 2021, 02:51 PM Jan 2021

John Eastman, Federalist Society, Capitol Insurrection



- John Eastman testifies on Capitol Hill in 2017.

'A Federalist Society Star Helped Foment the Capitol Riot.' The Federalist Society has no comment. Mark Joseph Stern, Jan. 13, 2021. - Excerpts:

The Capitol mob didn’t come out of nowhere. It was a response to the concerted attack on 2020’s election results crafted by elite right-wing politicians, academics, and attorneys. No law professor played a bigger role in Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election than John Eastman. As the president’s actual attorneys backed away from his coup, Eastman rushed in to fill the void, attempting to bolster the scheme with incoherent legal theories. When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the Supreme Court to overturn the election by nullifying millions of votes, it was Eastman who intervened on Trump’s behalf to endorse Paxton’s suit. When Trump exhorted Vice President Mike Pence to award him a second term by unilaterally disqualifying electoral votes, it was Eastman who advised Pence that he could, indeed, throw the election to Trump.

And when Trump needed a putative legal scholar to lend credence to his pre-insurrection rally, he brought out Eastman to deliver a speech alongside Rudy Giuliani, ringleader of the president’s efforts to steal the election.

It is no surprise that Eastman, a white supremacist on the far-right fringe of the conservative legal movement, played a major role in the president’s failed coup. What is remarkable—and, with each passing day, extraordinarily damning—is the Federalist Society’s refusal to address Eastman’s role in the insurrection. Eastman is not only a member of the Federalist Society, the network of conservative attorneys that provided the legal scaffolding for Trumpism. He is the chairman of the organization’s Federalism and Separation of Powers practice group and a frequent participant in its public events. The Federalist Society’s refusal to expel, condemn, or distance itself from Eastman in any way indicates that the organization is untroubled by the subversion of American democracy.

Eastman has spent much of his career promoting blatant lies. He gained notoriety in August when Newsweek published his column questioning the citizenship of Vice President–elect Kamala Harris. Eastman argued that Harris may not be an American citizen—and, thus, may not qualify for vice president—because her parents had not become U.S. citizens when she was born. In reality, the Constitution guarantees beyond debate that the children of immigrants who are born in the United States become American citizens at birth. But Eastman has spent decades denying this fact, instead proposing the objectively false theory that these children do not receive birthright citizenship.

His racist theory would require the government to strip citizenship from millions of Americans, most of them nonwhite, and subject them to deportation. (Newsweek later apologized for running his piece.)

Despite the partisan activities of its leaders, the Federalist Society purports to be a nonpartisan debate club. Eastman uses the organization to amplify his most noxious claims and launder them into ostensible legal scholarship. Less than one month before the 2020 election, for instance, he participated in yet another debate about birthright citizenship sponsored by the Federalist Society that allowed him to trot out the nativist falsehoods peddled in his Newsweek piece. The organization has not (yet) given Eastman an opportunity to spout Trump-approved conspiracy theories about election fraud in 2020. But it hasn’t expressed a word of disapproval about his participation in last week’s rally either—even though Eastman delivered arguably the most deranged speech of the day...

More, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/john-eastman-federalist-society-capitol-insurrection.html
10 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
John Eastman, Federalist Society, Capitol Insurrection (Original Post) appalachiablue Jan 2021 OP
The federalist society UpInArms Jan 2021 #1
I don't think it will go well with Eastman exboyfil Jan 2021 #2
Apologists with law degrees Pantagruel Jan 2021 #3
You know it appalachiablue Jan 2021 #7
There is way more evil to the Federalist Society than people realize. Here's what Sen. Sheldon scarletwoman Jan 2021 #4
A force indeed & more influential as the years pass appalachiablue Jan 2021 #5
You're very welcome. scarletwoman Jan 2021 #6
Reaganism at work, the descent into extremism appalachiablue Jan 2021 #10
Usurpers in our midst. badboy67 Jan 2021 #8
THAT'S THE GUY!!!! Grins Jan 2021 #9

exboyfil

(17,857 posts)
2. I don't think it will go well with Eastman
Thu Jan 14, 2021, 02:55 PM
Jan 2021

if he participates in the Impeachment Trial. What are the rules for attorneys in impeachment trials. In a regular trial neither Rudy G. nor Eastman could participate because they are participants in the events possibly even suspects.

scarletwoman

(31,893 posts)
4. There is way more evil to the Federalist Society than people realize. Here's what Sen. Sheldon
Thu Jan 14, 2021, 04:00 PM
Jan 2021

Whitehouse has to say:

https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/the-third-federalist-society

03.27.19
THE THIRD FEDERALIST SOCIETY

Within the Federalist Society, is an operation funded by dark money and designed to remake our judiciary on behalf of a distinct group of very wealthy anonymous funders.
Mr. President, this week, the Senate conveyor belt of President Trump’s judicial nominees grinds on. So far, the president and the Senate leader have preserved an unprecedented pace in confirming federal judges, especially powerful federal appellate judges. They seem to have no higher priority.

What’s a little weird about this is that nearly 90% of Trump’s appellate judges, and both his Supreme Court justices, are members of the so-called Federalist Society. On the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas — all are members. Now that’s a little weird. What’s really weird is that through this Federalist Society vehicle, big special interests are picking federal judges.

-snip-

I am here today to talk about that third Federalist Society.

Federalist Society Control of Nominating Process

The story of the “third” Federalist Society is partly the story of a man named Leonard Leo, the Society’s executive vice president. Mr. Leo is now the most influential person shaping our federal judiciary. Don’t be surprised if you’ve listening and you’ve never heard of him. He’s never been elected. He is not accountable to any voter. Instead, he’s the front man for interests that want to use the Federalist Society — and its surrounding network of front groups, and PR shops, and think tanks — to acquire control over our courts.

Renown court watcher Jeffrey Toobin describes Leo as “Trump’s subcontractor” on the selection of Supreme Court justices. More accurately, Mr. Leo is the subcontractor for a network of big corporate interests and front groups. In the summer of 2016, it was Leo who delivered the list of potential nominees to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia and the blocking of Merrick Garland. It was Mr. Leo who was involved in the Trump transition, helping to conduct outreach to potential Supreme Court picks, including Neil Gorsuch. Mr. Leo even orchestrated a million-dollar donation to Trump’s inauguration.

-snip-

Federalist Society Funders

Bad enough that judicial selection has been outsourced — or in-sourced — to a partisan entity. Worse is how non-transparent this all is. It’s hard to find out who’s behind it. It’s a very non-transparent problem, but here is what we’ve been able to piece together. The evidence is that the Federalist Society is funded by massive, secret contributions from corporate right-wing groups that have big agendas before the courts. (my bold)

In 2017, the Federalist Society took $5.5 million via an entity called DonorsTrust. DonorsTrust's has its sole purpose to launder the identities of donors to other groups, so that Americans don’t know the real backers of the groups. It is an identity removal machine for big donors. Through the hard work of investigators, journalists, and researchers, we have learned that the Koch brothers are among the largest, if not the largest, contributors to DonorsTrust. The Federalist Society’s total annual budget is about $20 million, so this $5.5 million in funding laundered through DonorsTrust provides more than a quarter of its entire budget.

-snip-

What It Wants

While the apparatus may be complex and difficult to track, its goal is simple. Don McGahn has explained it succinctly:

“Regulatory reform and judicial selection are . . . deeply connected.”

Translated, that means the Federalist Society’s goal is to pack the judiciary through judicial selection with judges who will deliver what is called regulatory reform. An extreme anti-regulation, anti-union, anti-environment agenda for those corporatist Federalist Society funders. (my bold)

Please go to the link and read the while thing - it's extremely eye-opening!

scarletwoman

(31,893 posts)
6. You're very welcome.
Thu Jan 14, 2021, 04:14 PM
Jan 2021

What blows my mind is that it was just formed in 1982 - I had thought it went further back than that.

Grins

(7,134 posts)
9. THAT'S THE GUY!!!!
Thu Jan 14, 2021, 07:06 PM
Jan 2021

Damn!!!!!

Been looking and looking to find out who that grinning Reich-winger who stood next to Rudy “Horse-mouth” Giuliani when he made his “mortal combat” reference.

It was EASTMAN!

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Editorials & Other Articles»John Eastman, Federalist ...