The delegates are not “lawfully” committed to do anything.
The Democrats made the rules—they can change them or break them.
There is no “law” involved.
The delegates were elected under state law.
State law says they can be arrested if they do not vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged.
I think the last time it came up was 1980, Carter-Kennedy.
The motion failed on the floor, so no one was arrested.
“The delegates are not “lawfully” committed to do anything.
The Democrats made the rules—they can change them or break them.
There is no “law” involved.”
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State laws, party bylaws, rules, charters, regulations…pick on what you will. I don’t believe the Democrats can change them for 2024. Party rules, bylaws, regulations and state laws all come into play if a party seeks to replace its presumptive nominee.
FYI:
Can Joe Biden Be Replaced as the Nominee? Here’s How It Could Happen
June 28, 2024
Excerpt:
“Delegates have second thoughts about Biden before nomination
Despite some loud protest votes in primaries, Biden has won a strong majority of the delegates: of an estimated 3,937 pledged delegates assigned in the primaries held so far, Biden is slated to arrive at the DNC confab in Chicago in August with 3,894 promised to be with him on the first vote. The extent to which those delegates are obligated to stick with Biden varies, based on state-by-state rules.
Also in play are 739 automatic delegates—or so-called superdelegates. Those are the party insiders like ex-Presidents, union chiefs, and mega-donors who can vote for anyone they want. In 2018, the party chose to reduce the influence of superdelegates on the nomination process, agreeing that superdelegates would not automatically get to vote on the first ballot.
On paper, the math remains in Biden’s favor if he continues to want the nomination. Absent Biden releasing the pledged delegates and state rules allowing such flexibility, they’re with Biden through at least the first round of balloting.
But there are still ways for delegates to, essentially, stage a revolt. This is where Convention Chair Minyon Moore comes in. Under DNC rules, a ruling from the chair can shut down almost anything. Bypassing the ruling of the convention chair would require 25% of the delegates demanding a roll call vote.
Confused yet? It’s about to get worse: every DNC jurisdiction—that’s each of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., American territories, and a jurisdiction representing Democrats who live abroad—has slightly different rules for how to handle thorny convention issues like bypassing a rule of the chair or making changes to their delegation. So how a brokered convention plays out could get incredibly complicated with the world’s eyes trying to make sense of arcane rules being adjudicated in real time on live TV.”
Source:
https://time.com/6993607/could-democrats-replace-biden-nominee-explainer/