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Joe Biden didn’t just have a bad night. American democracy is now more in danger than ever.
First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic:
The Biden-replacement operation
The Supreme Court’s January 6 decision is utterly baffling.
David Frum: Trump should never have had this platform.

In a 6–3 ruling today, the Supreme Court essentially threw a stick of dynamite at a giant, 40-year-old legal levee. The decision overruled what is known as the Chevron doctrine, a precedent that governed how American laws were administered. In doing so, it likely unleashed a river of litigation, much of which could erode away the country’s climate and environmental ambitions.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down one of its most anticipated opinions of the year, Jarkesy v. SEC. The decision will embolden conservatives who hope to hamstring the federal government, and guarantees the proliferation of ongoing, expensive, and existentially threatening legal disagreement.

This is Atlantic Intelligence, a limited-run series in which our writers help you wrap your mind around artificial intelligence and a new machine age. Sign up here.
Technology companies have been eager to sell a vision of generative AI as the future of, well, everything.

Today, in Fischer v. United States, the Supreme Court ignored the clear language of a federal obstruction-of-justice statute to hold that the January 6 rioters who breached Capitol barricades, assaulted police officers, broke doors and windows, and forced members of Congress to flee for their life did not “obstruct or impede” the congressional proceeding to certify the election.

Joe Biden says he ran for president in 2020 because of Charlottesville. He says he ran because he saw the threat Donald Trump posed to the country and the threat he posed to democracy. If Biden truly believes that, he needs to end his reelection campaign. Indeed, dropping out could be the most patriotic gesture of his long career in public service, and every senior Democratic official and leader in the country should be pressuring him to act immediately.

President Biden needs to end his campaign. The first presidential debate, held on Thursday night, was a disaster. It was clear from the outset that Biden looked old, sounded old, and yes, is in fact very, very old.
This has been rumored for a while. Thursday night, it was confirmed.
Panic seemed to set in among Democrats within minutes of the candidates taking the stage—on social media, at shellshocked “watch parties.” Full freak-out mode was achieved by the 20-minute mark.

The first question about January 6 was asked at Minute 41.
Donald Trump replied with a barrage of crazy lies, ending by seeming to blame Nancy Pelosi’s documentarian daughter.
Then, just to be fair, CNN moderator Jake Tapper followed up with a question to President Joe Biden. Did he really mean to imply that Trump’s voters were a danger to democracy?
Biden fumbled the answer, as he fumbled so many other answers.

What a disaster for Joe Biden.
In tonight’s first debate of the presidential campaign, the president appeared meandering, confused, and extremely frail. Biden’s performance was at times almost physically uncomfortable to watch and will greatly amplify the calls for him to step aside.
The question for many people before the debate was whether Biden would stumble. They didn’t have to wait long for an answer.