Author: Michelle Korhonen
Last Wednesday, over the course of three and a half hours of arguments, the conservative and liberal justices on the U.S. Supreme Court jousted over whether to overrule a 40-year-old case called Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council.The Chevron case is famous among lawyers—it’s among the most cited cases of all time—because it established the principle that the courts should defer to federal agencies when they interpret the law in the course of carrying out their duties. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is. Chevron shields the executive branch from overly intrusive court review, giving it…
Christopher Anderson / MagnumJanuary 24, 2024, 8:16 AM ETI.Today I’ll listen to whatever music Spotify has in mind.Concerto for Black Holes and Slime Molds by the Panty Sniffers?That algorithm knows me so well! I’ve pitched myself underthis magnolia tree, heart first, before I get lobbed anyplaceworse. No more of grandpa’s stuffed marlin glaring at mefrom the living-room wall, no more robocalls offeringto restructure debt never incurred, no more doomscrolling(for the moment.) I’ve retreated to the bosom of nature,where bird chirps whirr like sticks being fed into a woodchipper and magnolia leaves clatter into my lap like leatherwings. Mari has flown…
Nearly 25 years ago, I reported on the changing demographics of Cicero, a working-class suburb just west of Chicago. For years, the town, which was made up mostly of Italian and Eastern European American families, worked hard at keeping Black people from settling there. In 1951, when a Black family moved in, a mob entered their apartment, tore it up, and pushed a piano out a window. Police watched and did nothing. The governor had to call out the National Guard. By 2000, the nearby factories, which were the economic foundation of the community, had begun to close. White families…
Once upon a time, long before smartphones or even laptops were ubiquitous, the computer mouse was new, and it was thrilling. The 1984 Macintosh wasn’t the first machine to come with one, but it was the first to popularize the gizmo for ordinary people. Proper use of the mouse was not intuitive. Many people had a hard time moving and clicking at the same time, and “double-clicking” was a skill one had to learn. Still, anyone could put a hand on the thing, move it around on a table, and see the results on-screen: A little cursor moved along with…
Well, here it is.With Donald Trump’s victory in tonight’s New Hampshire primary, the die is cast. Or rather, the public can no longer ignore that the die is cast. Really, it was cast months, even years, ago and it has landed on what most Americans consider a bad roll: a rematch of the 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden.Dread of this outcome is perhaps the most unifying issue in an otherwise polarized political moment. For years, Americans have been telling pollsters—and reporters and friends and family and neighbors—that they don’t want to see the two men running for…
With an eye toward taking on Trump in a general election, the president is leaning into reproductive rights as a talking point.Bloomberg / GettyJanuary 23, 2024, 6:07 PM ETThis is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.With an eye toward taking on Donald Trump in a general election, President Joe Biden has started hammering home the message that he will protect reproductive freedoms in a second term.First, here are three new stories from…
Since Texas banned nearly all abortions, some providers have left the state. A look at one doctor who moved his entire practice — including the staff — to neighboring New Mexico.
“I regard pornography as the fast food of sex: A little bit here and there won’t hurt anyone, but it’s not something to consume regularly,” one reader argues.Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Millennium Images / Gallery StockJanuary 23, 2024, 3:14 PM ETWelcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Last week I asked readers, “Is pornography immoral?”H. regards most pornography as unhealthy, but not immoral:I found my life to be significantly improved after I stopped masturbating…
Anyone but You is that rarest of Hollywood phenomena—an old-fashioned word-of-mouth success.Brook Rushton / Sony PicturesJanuary 23, 2024, 1:31 PM ETThe film Anyone but You’s paltry $6 million opening over Christmas weekend seemingly confirmed a persistent assumption in Hollywood: Theatrical romantic comedies are a thing of the past. Once a pillar of the release calendar, rom-coms have largely been consigned to the smaller-scale world of streaming. They are seen as more difficult to sell overseas and distinguish at the box office (during that first weekend, Anyone but You lagged behind Wonka and Aquaman 2). Since its lackluster beginning, though, the…
“We’ve got to prove democracy works,” Joe Biden declared in his first press conference as president. He has dedicated his administration to this task. Biden took office weeks after his predecessor tried to overturn an election and sparked an insurrection. The violent transition of power confirmed America’s spot in the “democratic recession” that has beset dozens of countries since the mid-2000s. Several times since, Biden has remarked that future generations will see that the global contest between democracy and autocracy was in no small part decided during his presidency. Democracies, as he told world leaders at the inaugural Summit for…