Both sides declared victory in the first presidential debate of 2024, and the Supreme Court releases multiple decisions as the term ends.
Takeaways from the first Biden-Trump 2024 presidential debate
If you had an argument about golf handicaps on your bingo card for the first debate of the 2024 presidential election, congratulations.
That’s exactly what took place during the more than 90-minute face-off between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump at CNN’s presidential debate in Atlanta, the capital city of the all-important battleground state of Georgia.
The event itself was historic: It’s the first time in U.S. history that a current and former president met at a debate and it was the earliest face-off in U.S. history, taking place before Biden and Trump were even formally coronated as their parties’ respective nominees.
It was also replete with the candidates trading deeply personal insults at one another.
Trump baselessly blamed Biden for bringing the criminal cases against him (there is no evidence of Biden’s involvement in the four separate criminal proceedings against Trump) and invoked the president’s son, Hunter Biden, who was recently found guilty of federal firearms charges.
Biden, similarly, did not shy away from referencing Trump’s legal woes, calling him a “convicted felon,” referencing that he “had sex with a porn star” — a claim the Republican ex-president denies, but was central to his New York hush money conviction — was found civilly liable for “molesting a woman in public” and accusing him of having “the morals of an alley cat.”
And while both candidates sought to make their cases to the American people, it’s unclear if either was all that successful at winning over any voters from either side.
Biden’s quiet delivery and scratchy voice — a source familiar with Biden’s campaign confirmed to Spectrum News that the president is battling a summer cold — likely did not do much to allay concerns about his age, even among Democrats.
Meanwhile, Trump espoused numerous falsehoods throughout the debate that were not fact-checked in real time during the broadcast (in the network’s post-debate special, CNN anchor John King said that “Donald Trump broke the fact-check machine.”), while, in some cases, failing to answer the questions posed to him by the moderators.
Regardless, both sides declared the debate a victory. Trump’s campaign called his performance Thursday “the greatest debate performance and victory in history to the largest voter audience in history,” while Biden’s campaign said the incumbent Democrat “presented a positive and winning vision for the future of America” while his rival “offered a dark and backwards window into what America will look like if he steps foot back in the White House.”
Supreme Court’s final decision day is Monday, with key rulings — including Trump immunity claim — expected
After a consequential Supreme Court term that included key rulings on cases related to abortion and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the high court will issue its remaining decisions on Monday.
“The court will next sit Monday morning at 10:00 (a.m. ET),” Roberts said at the conclusion of Friday’s proceedings. ”At that time, we will announce all remaining opinions ready during this term of the court.”
The high court issued several key rulings in recent weeks, including multiple consequential opinions on Friday alone.
Two years after reversing Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a challenge to abortion medication mifepristone and temporarily allowed emergency abortions to take place in Idaho, despite the state’s restrictive ban on the procedure, a major victory for reproductive rights advocates.
The high court also overturned the Chevron doctrine, dealing a major blow to federal regulators and giving a win to conservatives and business interests; rejected a Purdue Pharma settlement that would have provided billions to address the nation’s opioid crisis; allowed cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors; narrowed a federal obstruction charge that hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, as well as former President Donald Trump, were charged with; and blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s "good neighbor" rule aimed at curtailing air pollution.
But key cases still remain undecided, including two that could have a wide-ranging impact.
Supreme Court decisions released Friday include:
- Supreme Court rejects Steve Bannon's bid to delay prison sentence
- Supreme Court narrows federal obstruction charge faced by Trump, Jan. 6 defendants
- Supreme Court overturns landmark Chevron decision, weakening federal regulators
- Supreme Court lets cities enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside