Bernie Sanders tells Democrats to back off primary attacks

[Jim Lane]

169. The Democratic Party has no say in the matter.

Someone who registers as a Democrat (in a state with partisan voter registration) is, AFAIK, entitled to run in the Democratic primary and seek the Democratic nomination. There may be a requirement to achieve a certain percentage of the vote at a convention or to submit petitions with a certain number of signatures from registered Democrats. Never, however, have I ever heard that some Democratic Party committee at any level (local, state, or national) has the power to veto a candidate on the basis of ideology.

I don't pretend to expertise in the election laws of all the states. I'm just making an educated guess that there is no such law. If you learn of one, please provide a link.

The closest analogy I can think of is how, back in the Jim Crow era, Democratic committees in the South directed that only whites could run in the primary. That was held to be unconstitutional. Now, given the history of the Civil War Amendments, the Supreme Court has recognized that race-based distinctions are subject to particular scrutiny. The abolition of the white primary doesn't conclusively prove that the Court would overturn a state law empowering a party committee to bar candidates it didn't like. When and if there is such a state law, that issue might become relevant.