An Open Letter to the American Political Science Association regarding John Eastman and the Claremont Institute
(Members of the APSA can sign on to this letter by clicking here)
September 23, 2021
To the members of the APSA Council:
On January 11, 2021, you issued the following statement on behalf of the APSA and its members: “The American Political Science Association strongly condemns President Trump, Republican legislators, and all those who have continuously endorsed and disseminated falsehoods and misinformation, and who have worked to overturn the results of a free and fair Presidential Election.”
John Eastman was an active participant in the attempted coup. Eastman, by his own admission, presented a memo to President Trump and Vice President Pence that “war gamed” alternatives for installing Trump as President by invalidating the Electoral Count Act through Vice Presidential fiat. “The main thing here,” Eastman wrote, “is that Pence should do this without asking permission — either from a vote of the joint session or from the Court.” Had Eastman been successful, the outcome of the 2020 election would have been nullified. American electoral democracy would have come to an abrupt conclusion.
The Claremont Institute has invited Eastman to appear on two of its panels at APSA this year. Eastman is a member of the Claremont Institute’s Board of Directors, and continues to serve as Director of Claremont’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. As Dr. Laura K. Field documents in her exhaustive study of Claremont’s participation in the 2020 election and its aftermath, the Claremont Institute has been an active proponent of falsehoods and misinformation about the 2020 election and its aftermath. Far from condemning Eastman’s participation in the attempt to undermine U.S. electoral democracy, the Claremont Institute has provided him with a welcome and comforting home for these efforts.
We are aware that Sections and Related Groups are free to populate their panels with whoever they see fit.
But John Eastman has violated our discipline’s professional ethics by participating in the dangerous attempt to overturn the institution of electoral democracy in the United States.
Your statement of strong condemnation on January 11th must apply to the Claremont Institute if it is to apply to anyone at all.
Therefore we hereby request that you, in accordance with APSA’s bylaws, to strip John Eastman of APSA membership.
We also request that you rescind the Claremont Institute’s status as an APSA related group. It is well within your power to do so. The Claremont Institute currently deploys its status as an APSA Related Group as a fundraising vehicle — offering donors the opportunity to purchase a panel slot for a $5,000 donation. Claremont’s status as a Related Group provides a material benefit to an institution that is expressly at odds with the goals and values of the American Political Science Association and its membership.
The Claremont Institute has the right to publish ill-reasoned diatribes that call for the end of electoral democracy in the United States. But the American Political Science Association has the responsibility to sever all ties with the Claremont Institute.
Respectfully submitted,
David Karpf
Associate Professor
George Washington University
[You may add your name to this sign-on letter by clicking here]
[edited 9/23 2:53pm to correct a typo and add a hyperlink]
