On Saturday, Fox News posted an article about some of the legal problems involved in replacing President Biden as the Democrat presidential candidate.

The article reports:

A major conservative activist group is preparing for legal battles in case the Democratic Party chooses to pull President Biden out of the running before or after he becomes the nominee.

The Heritage Foundation, one of the United States’ most prominent and well-connected conservative activist groups, is laying the groundwork in case a sudden switch-up in the Democratic roster sparks a legal war.

“We are monitoring the calls from across the country for President Biden to step aside, either now or before the election, and have concluded that the process for substitution and withdrawal is very complicated,” Executive Director of The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project Mike Howell said in a statement. “We will remain vigilant that appropriate election integrity procedures are followed.”

Heritage has already identified multiple states in which a switch away from Biden before or after the nomination could mean serious trouble for the Democratic Party.

In a separate statement, the Oversight Project warned, “If the Biden family decides that President Biden will not run for re-election, the mechanisms for replacing him on ballots vary by state. There is the potential for pre-election litigation in some states that would make the process difficult and perhaps unsuccessful. 

Theoretically, the Democrats can change candidates only if their candidate is ruled mentally unfit or dies. Otherwise, the results of the primary elections have to be respected. Putting a new candidate in at the last minute disenfranchises the primary voters. There was a time in America not too long ago when candidates were chosen by the party elite in smoke-filled rooms. Sometime in the last century, it was decided to let people vote in primary elections. In 1972 that was a problem for the Democrats–George McGovern won the primaries, but he was unelectable–he won only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. At that point the Democrats put in place a policy of naming enough superdelegates to their conventions that the party (rather than the voters) controlled the nomination.

I think it is possible that President Biden will withdraw from the presidential race. I am not sure it is likely. Stay tuned.