A past Convention Rules Committtee member, Haugland explained to his fellow RNC members that delegates have been bound only one time in the history of the Republican Party — in 1976, during the Gerald Ford campaign.

Ford’s camp, Haugland laid out, was concerned about losing “pledged” delegates to Ronald Reagan. Ford used his available strong delegate support to force the adoption of the “Justice Resolution.” This resolution amended convention rules to bind the delegates to cast their convention votes according to the results of binding primary contests.

“This historic event was the first convention in the history of the Republican Party where the delegates were denied the freedom to vote as they wished in the nomination vote for President,” Haugland said.

Additionally, he noted that the 1976 convention was the final time time delegates were bound by convention rules to cast their votes to match the results of binding primaries. However, the “1980 convention rescinded the ‘Justice Resolution’ entirely restoring the prohibition of binding,” Haugland wrote, concluding “every delegate at the 2016 GOP convention is a Super delegate.”