A federal judge in Colorado has ordered John C. Eastman, who devised former President Donald Trump’s plan to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election, to explain why he should not be removed as the plaintiff’s attorney in an ongoing civil lawsuit.

Under the rules of Colorado’s U.S. District Court, an attorney cannot be in “good standing” to practice if they are not in good standing everywhere else they are admitted to practice. Eastman is currently on “involuntary inactive status” in California, after a state judge concluded last month that Eastman’s attempts to subvert the presidential election on Trump’s behalf merited his disbarment.

On April 9, the clerk’s office for the district court notified Judge S. Kato Crews that Eastman, one of the attorneys on a constitutional rights lawsuit out of Colorado Springs, was “no longer considered in good standing” because of his discipline in California. Crews, in turn, directed Eastman to explain why he should not be removed as an attorney from the case.

Instead of answering Crews directly, Eastman submitted a short motion for extra time on April 18, noting he is appealing the California judge’s recommendation of disbarment and arguing the discipline proceedings were faulty. Crews rejected Eastman’s attempt to rely on his forthcoming appeal, noting Eastman’s inactive status means he is not now in good standing as a lawyer.

“(T)he California disciplinary proceedings are not controlling on this Court. As a result, extensions of time based on the timing associated with the California proceedings are a non sequitur,” Crews wrote in an April 26 order.

He again ordered Eastman to respond by May 10 to the notice that Eastman is not in good standing to practice in Colorado’s U.S. District Court.

Eastman was the visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the University of Colorado Boulder during the 2020-2021 school year. He also advanced unfounded allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities in multiple swing states after the 2020 presidential election. Eastman then drafted memos providing a legal justification for then-Vice President Mike Pence, when presiding over the counting of electoral votes in Congress, to reject swing state votes for Joe Biden and keep Trump unlawfully in office.

After a lengthy trial in California last year, State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland found Eastman had committed misconduct for dishonesty, failure to support the laws and Constitution and “moral turpitude.”

Eastman’s conduct was “improperly aimed at casting doubt on the legitimate election results and support for the baseless claim that the presidency was stolen from his client — all while relying on his credentials as an attorney and constitutional scholar to lend credibility to his unfounded claims,” Roland wrote in recommending Eastman’s disbarment.

Eastman faces criminal charges in Georgia in an indictment that alleged he and several others schemed to overturn Trump’s loss to Biden. Last week, an Arizona grand jury also indicted Eastman and other Trump allies for similar conduct.

Along with lawyers from the Mountain States Legal Foundation, Eastman is representing Eden Hope Rodriguez, a Colorado Springs mother whose son was allegedly reprimanded for wearing various patches — including the Gadsden flag and those with guns — in the case pending before Crews.

Eastman is also part of a second lawsuit in Colorado’s federal court, in which the Colorado Republican Party has so far been unsuccessful in barring unaffiliated voters from participating in its upcoming primary election. The clerk’s office similarly alerted the judge overseeing that case, Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer, that Eastman was not in good standing. As of April 28, Brimmer had not directed Eastman to justify his continued presence in the litigation.

In December, the U.S. District Court for Colorado disbarred another Trump-supporting attorney, L. Lin Wood, from practicing in the jurisdiction because he was not in good standing in his home state of Georgia. Wood also spread unfounded claims of election fraud and suggested “firing squads” should execute Pence.