On March 2, the January 6 Select Committee filed a brief demonstrating that former President Trump relied on the advice of a lawyer, John Eastman, in an attempt to prevent Vice President Pence from counting the electoral votes as the law required.  While this incident involves a lawyer who abandoned professional norms, a far greater number of attorneys encountering unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud did their job, proving these norms' resilience in the face of enormous pressure.

It is hard not to recoil at Eastman's conduct and to blame him for feeding Trump's seemingly insatiable desire to remain in power. If the events are as the documentary record seems to show, this is an entirely appropriate reaction. But it is even more noteworthy that in the stress of the moment, under fire from the most powerful man in the world, Vice President Mike Pence's attorney, Greg Jacob, condemned Eastman and insisted that the vice president follow the law.