LOS ANGELES — Attorney John Eastman, the architect of a legal strategy aimed at keeping former President Donald Trump in power, concocted a baseless theory and made false claims of fraud in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, prosecutor Duncan Carling said Tuesday in arguing that Eastman be disbarred.

Eastman’s attorney, Randall A. Miller, countered that his client never intended to steal the election, but was considering ways to delay electoral-vote counting so states could investigate allegations of voting improprieties. Trump’s claims of fraud were roundly rejected by courts.

Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges stemming from his development of a dubious legal strategy aimed at helping Trump overturn the election.

The State Bar Court of California will hear testimony in a proceeding that could result in Eastman losing his license to practice law in the state. Others to testify include Greg Jacob, a former attorney for then-Vice President Mike Pence. Jacob had resisted Eastman’s plan to have Pence stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Pence didn’t have the power to overturn the election and has said so.

The proceedings are expected to last at least eight days. If the State Bar Court finds Eastman culpable of the alleged violations it can recommend a punishment such as suspending or revoking his law license.

The California Supreme Court makes the final decision.

Eastman was scheduled to testify in his own defense Tuesday.

The State Bar alleges that Eastman violated California’s business and professions code by making false and misleading statements that constitute acts of “moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption,” and “violated this duty in furtherance of an attempt to usurp the will of the American people and overturn election results for the highest office in the land — an egregious and unprecedented attack on our democracy.”

Eastman has been a member of the California Bar since 1997, according to its website. He was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute. He retired as dean of the Chapman University law school in Southern California last year after more than 160 faculty members signed a letter calling for the university to take action against him.