They were not obligated by law, but they were obligated by the DNC Bylaws (you know, those things that actually govern the Democratic National Committee.
Article 5, Section 4 of the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party:
"In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process."
Read the bylaw.
The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers AND staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality.
It matters not that the suggestions were not used. It matters that those suggestions were even transmitted from personal thoughts to official DNC communications sent from one staff member to another, and it doesn't help that she
- did repeat appearances on mainstream press publicly bashing the Sanders campaign about their supporters throwing chairs at the Nevada DNC convention (when it didn't happen); and
- was Hillary Clinton's campaign manager in the 2008 primaries.
How do we look as Democrats when our own staffers are atheist and jew-baiting through e-mail suggesting that it could be used against one of our primary contenders when ... wait for it ... the primaries were still happening?
That's what you're missing. The way in which that bylaw is written, the buck stops with the DNC Chair. Granted, DWS could not have known the content of every e-mail sent by every DNC staffer to any other DNC staffer, but from the moment those ideas were transmitted with official DNC e-mail addresses by DNC staff members, that's the point where DWS became responsible.
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