WASHINGTON — Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah are urging the Supreme Court to review California’s decision to disbar John Eastman, the attorney whose legal strategy for President Donald Trump became part of the effort to overturn the 2020 election results. In a brief filed Wednesday, the Republican senators argued that bar regulators should not punish lawyers simply because officials disagree with their legal judgment. They described Eastman’s disbarment as an example of political activists using lawyer-discipline proceedings against attorneys on the “disfavored side of public controversies.” “An unpopular or even losing legal argument does not equal professional unfitness,” the senators wrote. They also warned that punishing lawyers for reasonable legal judgments could chill advocacy, arguing that lawyers may hesitate to press cases if their careers depend on regulators later approving their analysis. California disbarred Eastman in April. A former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Eastman was identified by former special counsel Jack Smith as a co-conspirator in the alleged effort to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election. Eastman has also faced criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona over his role in the scheme; those charges are separate from the California bar case. The filing adds a high-profile political dimension to the dispute over professional discipline and election-related advocacy. Lee, who could become the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, previously warned Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell that Jan. 6 was a dangerous idea and that no court or state legislature had backed Trump’s claims that he won the election. Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. During that hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, called for Smith to be disbarred as well.