[1] His father, John Arthur Eaves Sr., was a successful trial lawyer who launched three unsuccessful candidacies for Mississippi gubernatorial office.

Ongoing cases include Eaves' representation of U.S. soldiers with claims of suffering from complications as a result of the initial Gulf War, and of American nationals in Kenya against Osama bin Laden, several Islamic organizations, and the government of Sudan for the 1998 American embassy bombings in Nairobi and Kenya.

[7] In the suit the Eaves Law Firm is helping the people of Vieques recover for the harm done to them as a result of contamination caused by over sixty years of Naval live fire training on the Island.

[9] Scientific studies have discovered a link between the widespread contamination, which resulted from heavy metals, toxins, and other contaminates which bioaccumulated over the years, and a significantly higher rate of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, low birth rate, and infant mortality on the Island.

[14] In 2002, Eaves funded a television attack ad which criticized Democratic Governor Ronnie Musgrove for pushing a tort reform bill through the legislature which limited pain and suffering damage awards in malpractice lawsuits.

On February 24, 2003, he announced that he would challenge Musgrove in the Democratic primary for the 2003 Mississippi gubernatorial election, saying he was disappointed in the governor's "wishy-washy decision-making process.

"[15] He dropped out of the race on April 8, citing concerns about spending time away from his family, leaving Musgrove with no significant primary challengers.

[17] He won the Democratic primary on August 7, 2007, defeating challengers William Compton, Fred Smith, and Louis Fondren.

[6] Eaves also advocated voluntary student prayer in the classroom, cutting the grocery tax, covering every juvenile in the state with health care and an end to abortion.

Because Barbour's statement applied to both undocumented immigrants and Latinos living in the country legally under H2B work visas, some commentators viewed Eaves' remarks as racist.