Toobin: Claims That Kamala Harris's Nomination Is 'Unconstitutional' Are Baseless

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00:00We do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud.

00:04We do need a way forward together.

00:06Dozens of courts rejected those claims.

00:09Biden's win was certified.

00:11But for many Trumpers, their belief in a stolen election

00:14has never died.

00:16So some election watchers think Trump

00:18is angling for another excuse in case the vote, again,

00:23does not go his way.

00:24We know one thing for sure.

00:26Trump never loses.

00:27And so if he's not declared the winner of 2024, as in 2020,

00:32it must be because he was treated unfairly yet again.

00:37To return to the subject of the Supreme Court,

00:40yeah, maybe under some certain circumstances,

00:42they might come weighing in late.

00:44But legal analysts point out, when

00:46it comes to who's on the ballot, the courts

00:48have largely said, let the parties decide,

00:51let the ballots be cast, and let the voters make their pick.

00:54Anderson.

00:55Informant, thanks very much.

00:56We want to get some perspective on this now

00:57from bestselling author and former federal prosecutor

00:59Jeffrey Toobin.

01:00So is there any legal footing for this argument

01:03that it was unconstitutional for Harris to become the nominee?

01:06You know, Anderson, I try to give balanced answers whenever

01:09it's possible.

01:10But it's really not possible in a circumstance like this.

01:13This is a completely open and shut situation.

01:16Yes, it's true that the voters voted

01:20in the Democratic primaries for Joe Biden.

01:23Joe Biden has withdrawn as a candidate.

01:26So the delegates who were elected in those primaries

01:30now get to pick a different candidate.

01:32They have picked Kamala Harris.

01:36That's how the Democratic Party rules work.

01:39It makes sense.

01:40There is no impediment in the Democratic Party to this.

01:45And that's the end of the story.

01:46There is no legal impediment to Kamala Harris

01:49being the nominee in all 50 states.

01:53And just to be clear, I mean, the Constitution,

01:55which is what the former president is referring to,

01:58he's suddenly very interested in what's unconstitutional.

02:01The Constitution does not address the party nomination

02:03process, correct?

02:04No.

02:04I mean, there is a general provision

02:08in the Fifth and 14th Amendment that

02:09says the government has to act with due process of law.

02:13But that applies to the government's behavior.

02:18The Democratic Party is a private entity.

02:21And in any case, there is no argument

02:25that there was an absence of due process here.

02:28They had a candidate who won primaries

02:31who's not a candidate anymore.

02:33They have to pick someone else.

02:35They have picked someone else.

02:36That is not, there is no constitutional provision

02:41that would bar that under any circumstance.

02:45It also, I mean, the Democratic Party

02:47has layers and layers of rules and rules and rules.

02:51All of this has been thought out actually long

02:54before this ever happened.

02:55Right, and going back to when Ted Kennedy challenged

03:01Jimmy Carter in 1980, there was a big fight

03:05about how delegates could vote at the convention

03:09and whether they were bound by the results of primaries.

03:15But the key issue to remember also

03:18is that the only person who could ever challenge this,

03:21the only person who has standing

03:24to challenge Kamala Harris's nomination is Joe Biden

03:28because he would be the victim,

03:31but he has no interest in challenging it

03:33because he is now supporting Kamala Harris.

03:37So, you know, look, people can make claims

03:41and certainly Donald Trump has made untold thousands

03:46of legal claims both in public and in court filings

03:50that have been rejected over and over again,

03:53and no one's going to stop him from making claims.

03:55But those of us who try to, you know,

03:57inform people about the legitimacy of the claims,

04:00this one there's really no dispute about.

04:04The Democratic Party gets to decide who their candidate is,

04:07and they've decided on Kamala Harris.

04:10Right.

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