A conservative lawyer presented a six-part plan to then-Vice President Mike Pence explaining how he could overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to “Peril” the new book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
John Eastman, a professor at the Chapman University School of Law and a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, theorized to Pence in a January 4th White House meeting that he could throw out the results in seven states where competing, pro-Trump electors emerged. Once those states were put aside, neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden would have the required 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. The contest would then be decided by the House of Representative, with each state delegation getting one vote. Since Republicans controlled the delegations in 26 states, they would move to re-elect Trump.
Trump was enthusiastic about the plot, according to “Peril,” telling Pence, “You really need to listen to John. He’s a respected constitutional scholar. Hear him out.”
CNN explains what happened next:
In the end, Pence didn’t go along with Eastman’s scheme, concluding that the Constitution did not give him any power beyond counting the Electoral College votes. He did his own consultations before January 6, according to the book, reaching out to former Vice President Dan Quayle and the Senate parliamentarian, who were both clear in telling him he had no authority beyond counting the votes.
Eastman outlined his plan in a memo that eventually reached the desk of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican who had clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Lee found the memo unpersuasive. CNN reports:
Lee was shocked by the claims the memo was making, since no state had considered, let alone put forward, any alternate slates of electors. “Lee’s head was spinning,” the authors [of “Peril”] write. “No such procedure existed in the Constitution, any law or past practice. Eastman had apparently drawn it out of thin air.” Lee also dismissed the Trump team’s arguments that it had a case to overturn the election results in Georgia, saying they had to be made in court.
Eastman had gained Trump’s attention last August when he argued in a Newsweek article that Kamala Harris’ might not be eligible to serve as vice president because of her parents’ immigration status. Newsweek later attached an editor’s note to the piece explaining, “This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize.”
Eastman spoke at the January 6th rally in Washington D.C. that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He told the crowd, “We know there was fraud, We know that dead people voted.”
Days later, he resigned from the Chapman University School of Law amid blowback from the school’s community. More than 160 faculty members and members of the Board of Trustees signed a letter demanding Eastman’s termination.
