The high-stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court election

The race for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice has national policy implications; major oil exporting countries announce surprise production cuts.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

The most important election of 2023

Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

• Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will determine if the state’s Supreme Court keeps its 4-to-3 conservative majority or flips to liberal control. [Vox / Ben Jacobs]
• The race is officially nonpartisan, but Democrats have spent at least $20 million to support Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz; Republicans have spent over $17 million to boost former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the most expensive judicial contest ever. [Washington Post / Patrick Marley]
• A Protasiewicz victory could lead the court to revisit the 1849 law that’s banned abortion in most cases in Wisconsin since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. [Guardian / Alice Herman and Sam Levine]
• It could also prompt challenges to Wisconsin’s legislative maps, which heavily favor Republicans. New maps would give Democrats a shot at winning more seats in the statehouse and the US House of Representatives. [Newsweek / Darragh Roche]
• Tuesday’s race will also determine which party controls the court in the key swing state during the 2024 presidential election. Wisconsin came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020. [Associated Press / Scott Bauer]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explains the right-wing attacks on billionaire philanthropist George Soros following Donald Trump’s indictment. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

Oil prices soar after cut announcement

• Monday, oil prices surged nearly 6 percent after Saudi Arabia and other top exporters said they are cutting production by more than a million barrels a day. [BBC / Nick Edser and Noor Nanji].
• The OPEC+ countries will reduce oil output from May to the end of 2023 following Russia’s decision to cut 500,000 barrels. [CNBC / Lee Ying Shan]
• The move is likely to increase tensions with the US, which has urged Saudi Arabia and other countries to boost oil production to bring down global prices and ease inflation. [Washington Post / Aaron Gregg and Evan Halper]
• The production cuts could send the average costs of US gas to $4 per gallon during the busy summer driving season. [CBS News]

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Despite solid sales, McDonald’s is laying off corporate employees to focus on new locations— and prepare for an economic downturn. [Vox / Li Zhou]

• Western Australia and Tokyo researchers recorded the world’s deepest swimming fish at a depth of 27,349 feet in a trench near southeast Japan. [Guardian / Donna Lu]
• The Virginia teacher shot by her 6-year-old student filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board and other officials for failing to miss warning signs before the shooting. [NBC News / Erik Ortiz]
• Russia has reportedly detained a 26-year-old suspected in a cafe bombing that killed a Russian military blogger. [BBC / Robert Greenall]

“I think you’re sitting on the first explosion in a series of explosions that we’re likely to see across the country as the public reacts to the Dobbs decision.”

[Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race / Washington Post]

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