CNN's Dana Bash tried to give Attorney General Todd Blanche a lecture on the Constitution Sunday, and she ended up utterly humiliated instead.

The interview on State of the Union centered on the Justice Department's lawsuit over Alaska's Senate race. On Thursday, the DOJ went to federal court in Alaska to stop the state from certifying its results if Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The suit argues that a political newcomer named Daniel J. Sullivan landed on the ballot "with the intention of misleading" the incumbent's supporters, and that his presence corrupts the entire race.

We know the fake Sullivan is running to confuse voters and to be a spoiler. He even borrowed the senator's old campaign slogan and ran with a logo that looks almost exactly like the senator's. The metadata on his campaign press release pointed back to a known Peltola supporter, and he has connections to one of Peltola's consultants. Alaska Elections Director Carol Beecher declared him ineligible, but a Superior Court judge restored him to the August 18 primary ballot. Both Sullivans made it through to November.

This matters a great deal because Alaska could end up deciding who controls the Senate. Peltola holds roughly a two-point edge in Decision Desk HQ's polling average, Cook calls the race a "toss up," and Alaskans are already casting early ballots. In a race that tight, it doesn't take many confused voters to flip the seat to the Democrats.

Bash opened by asking what crime the president thinks is happening in Alaska. Blanche pointed her to the person running the state's elections.

Recommended
Ian Brinksman Arrested: Caught in a Honeypot? Charlie Martin The Real Target of the Paris Riots Comes Into Focus — and It's Not 'School Funding' Victoria Taft

"It's the director of the Alaskan election process, who has said that the second Dan Sullivan is going to create confusion, is not a real candidate, and is on the ballot only to pull votes from the incumbent," he said.

ICYMI: Obama Gets DESTROYED After Making Bizarre Claim About Iran

Bash kept pressing on the crime question, and Blanche made clear the bigger issue was the voters. "The real wrong here is that Alaskans are going to be confused and will not have their vote heard," he told her.

Then came the moment Bash set up her own humiliation by pretending to be a constitutional scholar. She cited Article I, Section 4 to suggest the lawsuit was some kind of federal power grab.

"Article I, section 4, states that the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state," Bash said.

Here's the thing: that sentence keeps going.

The very next part says Congress "may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations."

Bash stopped right before it, and Blanche wasn't about to let that slide.

"Well, conveniently, you put up the Constitution on your screen, but you highlighted on the first clause," Blanche replied. "Why don't you show the next clause to your viewers, which says that Congress is allowed to pass laws to make sure that that happens?"

I'll admit that I enjoyed watching Bash scramble after that one. She mustered a few flustered "yes" responses while Blanche told her producers to put the graphic back up. Then he finished the job.

"The second clause says, but the Congress may at any time by law, and we have a law," he said. "And that's the law that we're relying on when we — when we filed suit earlier this week."

Bash tried to recover by calling it the "so-called motor voter law." Blanche pounced on that too. "What does so-called mean? That's not what the law is called," he shot back.

He also reminded her that the Justice Department enforces the election laws Congress passes. "There's laws in place that allow us to step in if constitutional rights and statutory rights are potentially being violated in the election process," Blanche said.

Nice try, Dana.