LOS ANGELES — Try as it might, Chapman University just can't seem to get past John Eastman.
The conservative legal scholar abruptly retired 18 months ago from the small private Orange County university after he appeared at then-President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 rally, firing up the crowd with unproven allegations of election fraud. That came after he sparked campus uproars over other stands: supporting California's Proposition 8, which would have banned same-sex marriage; arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris was ineligible for that office because her parents weren't U.S. citizens when she was born in Oakland; representing Trump in efforts to challenge the election process in four states.
When a U.S. congressional committee launched hearings on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, there Eastman was again. Trump's former attorney argued that Vice President Mike Pence could reject state votes or delay certification of the election. And he was repeatedly described in news coverage as a "former Chapman University professor."
