A Dark Day for Democrats

Democrats confronted a nightmare scenario on Friday as they surveyed the wreckage of major political, policy and legal disasters piled atop one another with elections for control of the White House and Congress less than five months away.

Even as they reeled from President Biden’s poor performance on Thursday night in a make-or-break debate with former President Donald J. Trump, Democrats were slammed anew on Friday by the Supreme Court.

In one far-reaching ruling, the court undercut the government’s longstanding power to regulate health care, public safety and the environment — a core tenet of Democratic orthodoxy. In another, the justices handed down a decision that could make it more difficult to prosecute those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and potentially Mr. Trump himself, for their roles in the violent insurrection.

It was a day that encapsulated the party’s worst fears about the coming elections and the rightward tilt of the Supreme Court. And it drove home how Republicans and Mr. Trump are within reach of victory in November — putting them in position to achieve a host of policy objectives vehemently opposed by Democrats — even with a presumptive nominee who is a convicted felon and a party that has been in deep disarray and shown little ability to govern.

“It is a bad day for democracy and a threatening day for the rule of law,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee.