Immunity ruling raises the stakes for Democrats

Supreme court decision and Biden's refusal to step down dim hopes party can win the election and save democracy

- David Smith

'With fear for our democracy, I dissent." So wrote the supreme court justice Sonia Sotomayor in a minority opinion last week. She was far from alone in the view that, with Donald Trump threatening an "imperial presidency", American democracy is at a moment of maximum peril.

Millions are pinning their hopes on the Democratic party as the last wall of defence. Surely, they believed, Democrats would field their best and brightest, led by a dynamic presidential candidate and demagogue slayer. Instead the party is offering 81-yearold Joe Biden and an internal civil war.

Biden's career-worst debate performance against Trump last month has triggered acrimony, angst and panic among Democrats just four months from election day. There are growing calls for the oldest president in US history to step aside. But Biden has so far dug in and vowed to fight on.

It would be a hugely consequential decision for any party at any moment, but the one thing that Democrats agree on is the stakes are uniquely high. "American democracy is facing a category 5 disaster here," said Charlie Sykes, a conservative political commentator and Trump critic.

"Not just the election but the court. Unfortunately, the Democratic party feels like it's paralysed and refusing to acknowledge reality."