I write this the day after the Iowa caucus — a day when the nagging doubts about the DNC have turned into voiced concerns about the legitimacy of this primary.
For good reason, voters are having a hard time suspending disbelief that the DNC’s leadership won’t tip the scales for the party’s preferred candidate, or away from candidates they don’t prefer.
Why? Well, in August 2017, barely a year after the 2016 primaries concluded in Hillary Clinton’s favor, the DNC admitted in court that it had no real duty to live up to its charter’s promise to remain impartial and even-handed in the selection of candidates. You see, the DNC got called into court to respond to a class-action lawsuit about defrauding donors.
Instead of denying the charges that the DNC acted improperly, the DNC suggested that it was allowed to rig primaries and handpick candidates.
I’ll quote Bruce Spiva, the DNC attorney who made this argument, in court as part of the defense:
The party has the freedom of association to decide how it’s gonna select its representatives to the convention and to the state party. Even to define what constitutes evenhandedness and impartiality really would…
