It's official: John Eastman has resigned the deanship at Chapman to run for California Attorney General. I think he would be an outstanding AG--certainly better than the most recent holders of that office, who have consciously refused to enforce the law. Voters enacted Proposition 209 over a decade ago to illegalize racist government hiring, contracting, and school-admission policies, but both Bill Lockyer and Jerry Brown have refused to enforce it. Meanwhile, they've filed such frivolous lawsuits as California v. General Motors, which alleged that the making and selling of automobiles constituted a "public nuisance," because of air pollution, even though selling cars is perfectly legal, and the state itself operates a fleet of over 100,000 of them. Both Lockyer and Brown have used the Attorney General office not for its constitutional purpose of enforcing the law and promoting the public welfare, but as political instruments for advancing--well, I was going to say "their ideologies," but in fact, they've used it only to promote themselves.
Dr. Eastman is an extremely hardworking and conscientious man, with a profound commitment to the law and our constitutional heritage. It has been one of my great pleasures to learn from and work with this man, in cases like Guinn v. Legislature of Nevada, where he challenged the brazenly illegal attempt by the governor of Nevada to simply override that state's constitution and force the state legislature to raise taxes. (I tell the story of that amazing case here.) There was the amazing "cave bugs" case in which the Federal Government asserted virtually unlimited power to control private property literally anywhere in the United States--contrary to the language and spirit of the Constitution--and the school choice case, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, and of course, Kelo. He is a genuinely sincere and dedicated man, and precisely the sort of person we want for a public servant. I do not agree with him in everything, but I cannot imagine a better candidate for Attorney General. Here's the campaign site, where you can learn more and contribute.
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