The U.S. Supreme Court’s sweeping decision slashing the power of the executive branch, coming hours after President Joe Biden‘s poor debate performance, makes it harder for his administration to accomplish his biggest policy ambitions ahead of November’s election.

By saying that regulatory agencies don’t have leeway to interpret the meaning of ambiguous laws, the court made it tougher for the administration to defend regulations it issued in recent months to tackle climate change, forgive student debt, and crack down on so-called “junk fees.” All are among Biden’s key pitches to voters in his reelection campaign.

The decision eliminated a 40-year-old court precedent known as Chevron deference, building on a series of earlier opinions limiting agencies’ policymaking power. Many of Biden’s policy aims depend on interpretations of executive power under older laws, or writing rules where Congress called for standards but left it up to agencies to create them.

“This is as extreme an overruling of Chevron as anybody could have anticipated,” said Sharon Block, a former leader of Biden’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which oversees the White House’s rulemaking process. “I don’t see really any remaining respect for the expertise of agencies.”

The ruling came the morning after Biden repeatedly stumbled through his responses in the first presidential debate of the general election. The performance, punctuated by flubbed lines and coughing, intensified allies’ worries that he will lose to former President Donald Trump in November and sparked some calls for him not to run again.

“While this decision undermines the ability of federal agencies to use their expertise as Congress intended to make government work for the people, the Biden-Harris Administration will not relent in our efforts to protect and serve every American,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

“The President has directed his legal team to work with the Department of Justice and other agency counsel to review today’s decision carefully and ensure that our administration is doing everything we can to continue to deploy the extraordinary expertise of the federal workforce to keep Americans safe and ensure communities thrive,” the statement said.

Biden has pursued an ambitious regulatory agenda throughout his presidency. His most recent to-do list, published in December, included 2,524 items—40% of which the administration expected to finalize, according to Bloomberg Government’s analysis of the list.

“The courts have been saying we need to follow express congressional authorization language at a time when Congress is the weakest and is either not legislating or keeping statutes ambiguous,” said Marc J. Scheineson, a partner at Alston & Bird LLP that represents companies before the Food and Drug Administration, said ahead of the decision.

Climate change

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