John C. Eastman

John C. Eastman (born April 21, 1960) is an American law professor and politician. He is the Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law and former Dean^[1] at Chapman University School of Law.^[2] in Orange, California. He is also the 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.

Eastman earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1995, where he was an editor of the law review. He also has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School. He earned his B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas.

Prior to law school, he served as the Director of Congressional & Public Affairs at the United States Commission on Civil Rights during the Reagan administration. He was also the 1990 Republican nominee for United States Congress in the 34th District of California.

After law school, he clerked for Judge Michael Luttig and Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court of the United States, then worked as an attorney for the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in civil and constitutional litigation. He later joined Chapman to teach constitutional law. He also appears weekly on the Hugh Hewitt show commenting on law. On February 1, 2010, Eastman quit as Dean of the Chapman University School of Law to pursue the Republican nomination for California Attorney General.^[3] On June 8, 2010, Eastman lost the Republican primary to Steve Cooley, who lost to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the November 2, 2010, general election.

As of September 22, 2011, Eastman is the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage, a non-profit organization committed to preventing the legalization of same-sex marriage.^[4]

References

Academic offices
Preceded by Parham Williams	4th Dean of the Chapman University School of Law 2007–2010	Succeeded by Tom Campbell