capt ning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. o the newshour tonight, as the vatican preparesen an historic summit on the catholic church's sexual abuse crisis, survivors of predator priests speak out.th , months after california's devastating camp fire, reestablishing ord a way forward amid the rubble. and, reexamining a pop art icon, the first andy warhol retrospective in the united states in over 30 years. >> warhol reflects the incredible contradictions of america and american culture, which is our strong desire for innovation and the equal dire to conform. sh woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs nr.

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>> woodruff: there's word that special counsel robert mueller may be ready to submit h findings in the russia investigation. various news organizations are reporting it could happen next week. newly sworn-in attorney general, william barr, will revw mueller's work and submit his own summary to congress.wa democrat the findings made public, but president trump deferred today to barr. >> that'll be totally up to the new attorney gener. he's a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects ts country and respects the justice department, so that'll be totally up to him. >> woodruff: mueller is investigating russian efforts to influence the 2016 u. elections, and allegations that the trump campaign colluded with moscow. the president's ongoing confrontation with california' democratic leaders is heating up again. his administration now says

it will cancel $3.5 billion for a high-speed rail project that california is scaling back. te. trump tweeted today that the money has been w governor gavin newsom called it r "political retribution" lawsuit challenging the president's national emergency declaratio russia's president vladimclir putin ed today he does not want confrontation, but he warned the u.s. against deploying new missiles in europe. putin delivered his "state of the nation" address in moscow. he said russia can respond with new weapons, and he warned u.s. officials to rethink their world view. >> ( translated ): among the ruling class of the u.s. there are manyf those who are obsessed with the idea of their exceptionalism and superiority over the rest of the wd. but can they count?n. i'm sure they let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing. >> woodruff: putin claimed ausgn thata is ready to deploy a

new hypersonic missile for its navy, plus, a clear-powered underwater drone. his warnings follow esident trump's decision to quit a "cold war" era treaty that banneddi -range cruise and ballistic missiles. microsoft reports hackers linked to russia have carried out a wave of cyber-attacks on european democratic institutions. the hacks, late last year,ta eted think tanks and non- profits, ahead of elections for the european parliament may. microsoft says many were the sswork of a group tied to 's military intelligence agency. in eastern syria, kurdish-led forces evacuated hundreds ofy civilians toom the islamic state group's last enclave there. the operation followed a week- long stand-off around baghouz, a village near the iraqi border. more than 20 trucks, loaded with people, drove past floral fields today, leaving the area. other civilians rema with the

isis fighters. a woman who joined isis, hoda muthana, will not be allowed back in thunited states. she left alabama for syria in 2014, and is now 24. secretary of state mike pompeo ruled today she is not a u.s. .itizen, but gave no details meanwhile, britain stripped 19- year-old shamima begum of hezer cihip. she asked to return home, after joining isis four years ago. pope francis says the roman catholic church must acknowledge what he calls its "defects," but he also says some who attack the church he evil intent. francis spoke to worshippers today, before a vatican summit convenes tomorrow on sexual abuse the clergy. >> ( translated ): those who spentheir lives accusing, accusing, accusing are not the devil's children because thnoe devil hahildren, but they are friends, cousins and

relatives of the devil and this is wrong. mistakes should beeported in order to be corrected because when mistakes are reported, when flaws are denounced, the church is loved. >> woodruff: church officials a met today wiozen survivors of sexual abuse by catholics. the survivors call again for releasing the names of abusive priests, and the records of what was done about them. back in this country, a massive winter storm disrupted the day from the midwest to the east coast to the south more than 5,400 commercial flights were canceled or delayed, and schools and government offices closed in a mber of states. people had to dithemselves out from nebraska to new jersey. and even birds had it tough: a bald eagle in wagtsh shielded its eggs, as snow and sleet piled up around it. icago police are now accusing jussie smollett of filing a

false police report. the black, openly gay actor h claimed he was attacked by two men who shouted racist anicd homophlurs. his attorneys met with prosecutors today, and afterward, police announced they are asking a grand jury to indict smollett. teachers in west virginia stayed on strike today. they walked out tuesday, over a bill authorizing charter schools and private tuitionun ac for parents. the state house killed the bill, buteacher union leaders sai they fear lawmakers may yet try to revive it. the family of a kentucky teenager is now suing shhe gton post" for defamation, and asking $250 million. nicholas sandmann was involved in an incident with a native american activist, in washington last month. videos of the event sparked competing claims about who was at fault the lawsuit alleges the "post"'e reporting "tarand bullied" sandmann to embarrass president

trump. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 63 points to close at 25,954. the nasdaq rostwo points, and the s&p 500 added five. still to come on the newshour: previewing the vatican's landmark summit on sexual abuse. a unanimous supreme court limits the ability of states to seize property. the 2020 democratic presidential candidates on expanding health care, and much more. >> woodruff: tomorrow at the vatican, a historic four-day summit begins on clerical sex abuse in the catholic church. f lows a year packed with allegations from catholic dioceses around the world. now, fingers are also pointed squarely at pope francis;vi

ims and even high-ranking officials accuse him of inaction. as special correspondent christopher livesay reports fllm rome, the t is already tarnishing the legacy and credibility of the man many call the "people's pope." >> reporter: these are the cries survivors. cries of deaf men that went unheard for decades. >> ( translated ): i was six years old. the priest led me into his room with candy. then, he sodomized me. >> ( translated ): he raped me with a banana. then told me to take a coca cola. >> ( translated ): it was in the confessial. he made me undress, then molested me. >> reporter: as childr, they attended the catholic-run natonio provolo institute for the deaf in veroin northern italy. they're among 67 former students who allege that clergy physically and sexually abused minors there from the 1950s

through the 1980s. >> ( translated ): i cried for help but everyone was deaf. no one could hear my screams. >> ( translated ): nothing ever happened to them. the pope has never done anything. >> reporter: aa young boy, gianni bisoli alleges that one of his aggressor's was not just a cleric, but thlate bishop of verona, giuseppe carraro. this is the same path wherei gianni bisolmembers walking as a young boy; the same path to the bishop's residence; thsame now that same bishop is on a path to sainood, thanks in part to pope francis. a probe b the verona diocese failed to terview any of the alleged victims but cleared the late bishop anyway. and in 2015, pope francis signed a decree of "heroic virtue" on his behalf, a step towards sainthood. pope francis has vowed repeatedly to take sex abuse seriously, as he reiterated last september. >> ( translated ): even if it were just one priest abusing a little boy or girl, that is monstrous.

>> reporter: but there are many, many more victims, and the pop has appeared off-balance in his lefense of them. last year in chifrancis punsicly dismissed accusatio that bishop juan barros witnessed sexual abuse of minors by a priest as calumny. following an outcry of victims, the pope apologized last may,ed and acceptarros' resignation in june. in one explosive case, francis was accused an archbishop of ignoring the past sexual misconduct of the former archbishop of washington d.c., theodore mccarrick; last week, poperancis defrocked him, issuing his most severe punishment yet in the clerical x abuse scandals. but critics say it may be too litt, too late, both for the credibility of the church, and francis' pontificate. victims of sexual abuse say the vatican has hidden behd these walls while they should have been cracking down on predator priests. now some say that inaction could

lead to the undoing of pope francis's legacy. and maybe, even his papacy. edward pentin is the rome correspondenfor the "national catholic register," the oldest national catholic daily in the u.s. >> this has been rumored. it's a recent rumor that perhaps he'll resign because of this. or maybe time it with the summit to resign. >> reporter: only a rumor. but in the notoriously secretive monarchy that is the vatican, rumors have currency. and the fact that a possible papaabdication is even being uttered at the holy see speaks to the pressure under which this pontiff finds himself. >> i think it will depend onow much he will listen to his critics. this hasn't been a great attribute of his in the past. he doesn't seem to like listening to his critics. he doesn't like being correcteda >> reporter:is needs to admit wrongdoing says robert mickens, a veteran vaticantc r. >> it took him over a year and a half before he even mentio sex abuse. i really think the pope has to

come clean on th, and say i made a mistake. i too was negligent. and i think he has the credibility to do that in a convincing way, that could help change this. >> reporter: archbishop charles scicluna is the vatican's former chief sex crimes prosecutor, and a key organizer of the conference. he says it will include some 200 church leaders from around the world, as well as ab survivors, and the pope at all plenary sessions. >> i think we need, as the pope said, to come to awareness as church leaders that things have to change. that people have to be empowered to disclose abuse. and we are accountable when wes addrsconduct when it happens. >> reporter: does that m defrocking members of the clergy? does that mean turning them over to civil authorities? >> every allegation has to be taken seriously. every allegation has to be investigated.

mandatory reporting laws, according to domestic laws, have to be followed>>. eporter: so cooperate with local authorities? >> absolutely. >> reporter: scicluna says the church in the u.s. has come abu long way since and cover- up scandals erupted within the boston archdiocese, prompting the resignation of then archbishop cardinal bernard law in 2002. but glally, he says, church leaders need to do more. here in italy, the vatican's own backyard, clergy have been slow to even recognize abuse. are there really still church leaders who don't recognize that sex abuse is a problem in the church? >> this is not about the united states of america, this is about the caolic church. but we understand that the u.s. is a leader in child protection, and there are things that i think the catholic chur around the world looks to learn fromta the uniteds bishops. pope francis is on the record on

a number of occasions expressing ination to address the issue. >> reporter: is pope francis going to resign? i think the only person who knows that is pope francis. you'd better ask him.t >> reporter: jis month, pope francis acknowledged more instances of abuse in the church. this time, against nuns. >> ( translated ): there are some priests and also bishops s o have done it. and i think that intinuing because it's not like once you realize it that it stops. it continues. and for some time we've be working on i >> reporter: o more crisis before a conference that setsbi g expectations. survivors like pier paolo zanatta hope the conference will spark meaningful change, and consequences. >> ( translated ):e rancis must e event to kick out every last predator priest. defrock them and kick them out;o cardinals, b, priests, everyone. >> reporter: and if he doesn't?

>> ( translated ): then people won't believe in the church anymore.ep >>ter: for the pbs newshour, i'm christopher livesay, in rome. >> woodruff: a unamous decision from the u.s. supreme purt today limits the ability of states to seivate property and impose excessive fines. the decision came from justice ruth bader ginsburg, who was back on the court for the second timeince undergoing cancer surgery in december. amna nawaz has more. >> nawaz: the case began when an indiana man pleaded guilty toin se$225 of heroin. the police later claimed his land rover had been used to transport drugs and seized theom $42,000 car,hing the

court said today was "disproportionate to the gravity" of his offense. to help explain the case, i'inm as always by marcia coyle of the national law journal. we've talked about a number of cases before. every time the supreme court considers one of theseth cases, e is a central question and issue. what was it here? right. the justices were asked whether the ban against excessive fines in the eighth amendment applies to the states, does it protect us from state action that is excessive in fines or forfeiture? and the court saidoday in a unanimous opinion, amna, by justice ginsburg, and short one as well, nine pages, that that excessive fes ban does protect us against state action. >> nawaz: so what do we know about the impact of a decision like this? there's obviously a lot of background tt feeds int this. justice thomas cited reporting around the issue in his decision. what is the impact of a decision beke this?

>> well, there hav a number of complaints or allegations by citizens and also ws reports that some police departments have used forfeiture and fines in an abusive way or in a way that sometimes funds certain activities that they want to do without any real connection to a crime. and, so, what the court did today is going to do two things, basically. it's going to make police departments probably more cautious in how they use fines and forfeitures, and it also gives all of us a basis to challenge those forfeitures or fines if they are excessive. justice ginsburg pointed out excessive forfeitures and fines can undermine our rights. she pointed out, if they are used in a wrong way they cansp chilch and be used as

retaliation, and there have been allegations that they inve been usedhat way. >> nawaz: marcia, we should note this isn't the first time they haveaken articulations mentioned in the bill of right in federal action and extend them to state and localme goves. can we see that kind of thing happening again? >> probably. believe it or not, there are still two amendments that have not been applied tohe states. the fifth amendment's right to an indictment by a grand jury, and the seventh amendment jury trial right in cil lawsuits haven't been applied. besides today's action, the most recent time the court applied an amendment of the bill of rights to the states was in 2010, when it applied the second amendment, the veght of individuals to a gun in the home for self-defense, tthe states. so you're absolutely right, amna. remember that when the bill of rights was ratified, it was to protect us against federal fction, and the court, over a

period o years through what it calls incorporation, hased app the bill of rights to the states through our 14th amendment due process clause. so wait and see, as the issue comes before the court we'll see what the court does with what's still remaining in bill of rights. >> nawaz: marcia coyle, good to talk to you as always. >> always a plk sure. thu. oo >>uff: next, we return to our occasional series on the policy positions of the 2020 democratic presidential candidates. tonight lisa dejardilores the various approaches to reforming health care coverage that some prominent contenders are promoting. first, some background. >> desjardins: in the big-name, big-field democratic race for president, health care is the biest issue. >> they want health care as a mught, not a privilege! >> desjardins: . of it echoing one candidate.

>> is health care a human right or is it not? >> desjardins: vermont senator bernie sders "medicare for all bill" has the support of no less than five other senators and one congresswoman running for president. the sanders bill would create one government-run health care system, ending private health insurance. medicare and medicaid enrollees would transition into the new system. it would not impact the veteran's affairs or indian sealth services coverage. but even as the t democratic contenders so far seem to agree, looking carefully, there is divide over how far to go and hw fast. the day he announc presidential run, new jersey senator cory booker, when asd, said he would not end private health insurance.s >> even countrat have vast access to publicly offered heal care still have private health care, so no. >> desjardins: also in favor of keepg private health insuran are senators kirsten gillibrand of new york and elizabeth warren of massachusetts.

that versus california senator kamala harris, who told a cnn town hall in january she does want to end private insurance. >> i believe the solution, and i actually feel very strgly about this, is that we need to have medicare for all. that's just the bottom le >> desjardins: later her communications team walked that back, saying she is open to other pla as well. fully government-run health care is the broadest idea but many democratic candidates also support smaller takes on that, like expanding medicare to start ten years rlier, at age 55, or offering a so-called "publhiic option," would be a government-run health insurance plan, possibly like medicare. south bend mayor pete buttigieg told newshour's judy woodruff he likes a government option nowir, as a step. >> take a version of medicare or something like it, make it available as a public option on the exchange. and then if people like me are preferred means, then this will

be a very natural glide path to a ngle-payer environment. >> desjardins: meanwhile, polling shows this is good political territory for democrats. a january 2019 kaiser family foundation survey shows a tyjority, 56% of americans favor a medicare-for-all national health plan, while 42% oppose. and a whopping 77% support t loweri medicare buy-in age to 50. put minnesota senator amy klobachar in the camp of "too soon" for full-blown government run health care. >> i thi it's something we can look to for the future, but i want to get action now and i think the best way to do that is actually something we wanted to we were doing the affordable care act and we were stopped, and that's putting a public option in there. >> desjardins: of corse all of this is a shift left from two years ago, when the affordable care act passed, after democrats dropped the idea of a public option from it. for much of the country, it's also a change from last yearmo when most ats running for congress focused on saving the and it's protections fo sick people. now, the conversation, on the

democratic presidential trail is about panding past, sometimes far past, the affordable care act. the candidates have many differenproposals and what are there prospects with voters in 2020? dylan scott covers health care and domesticolicy for vo let's jumpteight into the inology, which i think could become an issue for the next year. we hear medicare for all, we hear universals healthcare. is it c tar thems mean the same things to alldi ctes? >> i think it is to be clear that there is a bill in the united states senate that's called medicare for all act that bernie sanders put forward that's a single pair national insurance program every americae woul covered under. that's what bernie sanders means by medicare for all. but medicare has become a slowing that i think signifies that we want to expand healthcare access, we want more people to be ablein to

medicare if they want to, but, for some people, maybehe people who aren't true believers in single pair healthcare, it's become more of an effective branding to tal about universals healthcare as opposed to a specific policy proposal that's been written into legislative text. >> we have almost every congress backing bernie sanders plan, technically. do we know if president if these people would actually enact that? seke it might not be their first choice. >> i think of the democrat candidates in a couple of bu tets. you hav true believers, the bernie sanderses who say medicare for all single payer is where we need too and that's the bill we should be putting up in congress in 2021 i we get control of the white house and the senate and theouse, but there is another bucket of democrats who are a little more flible, let's say. they've endorsed the bernie sanders bill. they say their goal is to get to a medicare for all system, but in the near term they will talk

about shoring up the affordable care act, tackling prescription drug prices, and they're more willing to take incremental steps to get to a medicare for all system. then you have a third bucket of democrats who don't want anhing to do with this. they're aware of attacks made against the medicare for l program, leading to all taxes, less access, a socialist takeover of the medical system. for theemocratic voters, the interesting question is it impoant to have an absolutist approach where they must have single payer or do they likeg hear your goal is to expand access bott are caught up in the details. >> reporr: there's also political calculation, if someone goes too far in the primary, can they win in t general. what do we know about the overall population and what americans want in general in healthcare. >> voters are comfortable in a pretty robust role in government providing healthcare to our

whether they're interested in single payer is if the great question. pollsters say i don't think americans know what they think of single payer. welike the idea of everyone having aess to healthcare and government having a big role in providing it, but people get antsy when hearing everybody will be forced into the they like the idea of choice. whether the choice is can i shoes the carrier or whether the more important choice is aboutwh doctor i can see and what hospital will take my insurance, i think that's oneo have the thing we're still figuring out. americans like the idea ofl univerhealthcare but higher prices makes americans nervous and loss of choice makeers cans nervous. what remains to be seen is whether they are as committed as the bernie sanderses of the world to a national health insurance program comparable to something like canada or whether they would be more okay with incrementsle steps, but

disrupting a system that's working for them makes them for nervous than anything else. >> and we're waiting to see h candidates would pay for their plans. >> that's the issue nobody wants to touch. >> reporter: dylan scott,'l ask you about it in the future. thank you for joining us. >> thank y. >> woodruff: the camp wildfire roared through paradise, california last november, eaving 85 known dead and town a wasteland. as demolition crews continue tos clear f toxic ash and ubbris, there are concerns about the environment,c health and the safety of the water. special correspondent cat wise reports on how survivors are trying to bring some sense of order back to their lives. it's part of our weekly serie o "leading edgscience and technology. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. >> reporter: the morning rituall

is the same, be has changed dramatically for these s paradidents since november 8th: many left for school on that sun morning never to see their home again. a former hardware store in chico, 15 miles away, is where classes are now being held. their middle school was onlyll partiay damaged but like many in the area, it remains closed. at the new locion, every attempt has been made to keep things as normal as possible. >>kay, a chance to show off your spirit next week. >> reporter: breakfast is served checkout counters. classes are held in converted aisles where shelving, that once seld tools, now support students. there's a library, a gym, ofso s, rows of donated shoes and supplies and many messages ofun support from athe country. >> if you can just raise your hand how many of you lost your home? so all of you but two.

>> reporter: on the day we visited, a group of 6th graders were meeting with elaine collins.20 she's onounselors who have been brought in by butte county to support students aff as they cope with the trauma of the wildfire. >> if you had to pick one character trait, one thing within yourself thatotten you through this. >> courage. >> i think you are all amazingly courageous and brave. >> strong. >> so your strength has gotten you out. and what's been the hardest thing since november 8? >> new living situation. >> losing my home and what i treasured for 11 years. >> reporter: like many of the new counselors, collins came out of retirement to help. she's been working with students of all ages. >> you and i can talk about feeling stressed, we can articulate our loss. for let's say, an eight or nine- year-old boy, most of them don't ve the schema to even begin to think about the loss they've experienced.

so, particularly with elementary school kids, it's really common see stomachaches, headaches, acting out behavior. >> reporter: she says the larger community is going through a tough period. >> in a major incident like this un first, at first there's, you know, sort of a d, numb thing that happens. and then you kind of go into this honeymoon phase, there's just a high lel of gratefulness for all of the help that's coming. and then you get to the phase that we're kind of beginning to dip in now, which is life sucks right now, and i don't know how long it's going to suck. >> reporter: while signs ofre progressisible, much of the town remains in ashy piles, which were blanketed in white recently after a snow storm. about 14,000 homes and businesses were destcayed in the fire. this will be the largest debris clean up in modern california history. it's estimated more than five

million tons of concrete, metal and ash will need to be removed fore the rebuilding can begin. crs of government contractors are just beginning to haul away all remnants of former structures. but fore they can step on a property, homeowners must give approval.rk that paperntensive process has been playing out here in the butte county "ri entry" center. >> every one of those files represents somebody who lost their home, a family who no longer has a place to live. >> reporter: casey hatcher is a public information officer for the county. >> we're going to have to have a variety of options in order to meet the need for so many people to rebuild, and be housed. there's the tempary housing opportunities that will bfe brought in b. the local communities have passed ordinances to h relax provisions for people to live in temporarhousing, like r.v.s, or trailers.

>> reporter: scenes of lives upended are everywhere. trailers parked next to burned lots, cars packed with possessions, and nearby hotels crowded with long-term guests. paradise resident michael baca is one of those trying to make- do in uncertain times. >> it's not what it used to be, but we're alright. >> reporter: he's moved back on his uncleared lot, an arrangement local officials initially approved but then baed when fema announced late last month that federal funding could be jeopardized if residents were allowed to live in potentially toxic areas. baca says he wants to stay put. >> until they come and clean it up, i don't believe there's any reason why we should l >> reporter: he's wondering now about job prospects in his community, something on the minds of many here. about 50 mtly small businesses have reopened, a small

1percentage of the roughl200 in the community before the fire. new businesses have emerged to serve the throngs of s nstruction workers. but many store owne facing an uphill battle. oh wow. >> water came in everywhere. came in up here. e of course myipment was in here and all covered in mold. >> reporter: this now soggy, retail space was once a lively curves gym owned by jeni harris. hot embers created holes in the roof of building she rented which allowed rain in, for weeks, before she and other resints were allowed to return. harris, who lost her home in nearby magalia and is now living in an r.v., says the process to collect homeowner's insurance was relatively straight forwardd it's beeer to get things sorted o with the building that didn't burn. >> i haven't gotten any insurance payments yetbut we're working on it. i doxpect i will. it's a little bit scary, have a lot of members who are

rebuilding but they are living in chico, they're living in durham living in surrounding areas. so, it's going to be a much smaller group. i want to be part of the rebuilding of the community, that's really important to me. >> reporter: another big concern for businesses and residents: a toxic chemical called benzene detected in the town's water. the local water district is investigating and has told residents to usenly bottled water for the time being. cars now line up at a distributi center for weekly rations. back at paradise intermediate school, elaine collins ended her counseling session by giving each student a piece of d jewelry with an inspirational inscription. >> it says, "yours is a story so brave and trueand life is seeing the hero in you. i don't know if you realize how many pple around the country and the world are thinking about how brave you are. >> reporter: teachers and staff hope to be back in paradise next

fall, but it could be months before a plan is finalized for next school year. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in chico, california. >> woodruff: now we look back at the legal battle that became a flashpoint of the gay rights movement 25 years ago. sharon bottoms mattes was at the center of a much-publicized child custody case in virginia in the 1990s but unlike other custody disputes, her mother sued forng custody, arger daughter was unfit to parent because shet had moved inanother woman. bottoms mattes died of cancehe last month ahome in north carolina. she was 48 years old. we start tonight with a conversation i recorded yesterday with donald butler,ho the attorneyepresented sharon bottoms in her unsuccessful fight to maintain

custody of her son. donald butler, thank you very mucfor joining us. rst of all, how did you meet sharon bottoms? >> i was contacted by the aclu to see if i would take up her case after she went to court by herself at the first level, and the daughter was awarded to her own mother. they will contacted me. i was a divorce attorney, family law attorney at the time and or somebo looking to represent her pro-bono. >> woodruff: and she had not had any legal representation earlier. why was her mother so determined todeny her custody of her own son? >> homophobia is the only y i could explain it. it's a very deep emotion, homophobia, and i can only surmise that that's what drove her to take such drast action. >> woodruff: so there were no

otherr cumstances or factors of sharon bottoms' life that would have made her feel that way? >> no, thee was a litany of things she testified about, trying to paint as dirty aof pictur sharon as she could. but these are not thingshat a mother would use to deprive her own child of custody of her child. >> woodruff: sharon bottoms, i was reading about her in the last couple of days, she h dropped out of high school. she had, according to "the washington post," a series of part-time jobs, including i guess mostly as a store clerk, they said. d ho she deal with her own mother's opposition to what she wanted? where did the strength come from? >> well, she did gain a lot of support inh te community, and there were people that were interestedn her case and, of course, she was interested in having her own son and havingay

her ownf life. >> reporter: how did she look on this legal fight? >> there was a lot of support in other parts of the statnd other parts of the country. where the support failed her was in the judicial system, the attitudes prevailing at the time were such that s didnhave much of a chance to start out with. levelounted back from the that i got involved in, at the end, we had six i justicen favor of her side of the case, six judges, andst five aga her, but, unfortunately, four of those against her were opr the e court and constituted a majority of the seven, and it was their attitudes that prevailed to cause her ultimately lose custody. >> woodruff: but she had tobe determined enough to go through several levels of the court system. ere had to be real determination on her part to get throug this. >> there really did. she went through every level. the first levelou she went t without representation, then we went through the next trial

level which was the circuheit court, there were witnesses testifying, where she had to listen to some of theri deions of her conduct or had to defend herself. >> woodrf: i was reading from some of the ruling conduct that's illegal and immoral and, quote, the child would be living daily under conditions stemming from active lesbianism practiced in the home, may impose a bur upon a child by reason of the social condemnation attached to an arrangement. it was a condemnation of its own. >> yes. i never did figure out what "act of lesbianism" hwas, but tey seemed to like that language, and the term-practice "practices though it were some sort of a religion, i suppose. but it was harsh language and that's the root of the whole issue is society sits in t judgment os and they pre-suppose that the child is going to suffer because of the

stigma of living with his own parent who is living in a same-sex relationship. >> woodruff: how do you think sharon bottoms was affected by se ultimate ruling and losing custody of her? >> i think it affected her greatly. i mean, you know, she was being judged and made to feel that she was not worthy but those people in power. she nted to be with her child,te and she w a relationship with her mother. so she was doubly impacd. this was not the state taking her child, although the state was complicitt,n but this was her own mother. so one can only imagine what it feels like to have your moth door this to you with the result being that you don't have ano al relationship with your own child, and you have very limited, structured visitation as if you were some strange >> woodruff: donald butler, an

attorney representing sharone bottoms in early 1990s, thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. sharon mcgowan ishe chief strategy officer and legal director of lamda legal,. shar welcome back to the "newshour". could what s happened ron bottoms happen today? >> for the most part, it's hard to say never, but most likely not. the conditions that we live in in this country have changed in such significant ways that thhae idea some individual could come in and take a parent's child away from them because of their sexual oritation is really very, very unlikely at this point. we have not only sort of moved to a time where we have marriage equality, but it's also important to remember that when sharon bottoms was going through this, her own relationships were deemed criminal under the law, and, so, for the ability for the state and herown mother teem her immoral and criminal is based on a set of laws that have

since been ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. >> woodruff: how is her case, what happened to her viewed in cent history, when you look at the gay rightsovement? >> you know, sharon's fight for her child, in many ways, is one of the many essential things, when you think about defending yourself and your family y,d, unfortunathere are still many lgbt parents who need to continue tfight to preserve their relationships with their children. we have more protections now, the ability to protect our relationships through adoption, marriage.e but the more ways in which appearing before a hostile family court judge somewhere in the counuld put your relationship with your child in jeopar t. >> woodruf supreme court ruling made a difference but hasn't changed everything. you sll have sta laws and other laws that stand in the way that allow others to interfere with these relationships. >> well, there is a significantm

nt of protection for same-sex marriages and outsiders coming in to disrupt there tionship. what we've seen, in the context of the relationships that he broken down, disputes between parents and the biological parent tryinto dispute the right of the nonbiological parent to maintain thparenting relationship with their child. so we will see from state to state a very different approach and in some cases you will see a recognition that either because the family was built in a veryin ntional way, that nonbiological parent will havega very secure protections, and in other places they are still treated as a total stranger to their own child. >> woodruff: these have been hard-won protections, right? >> that's right, state by statee we gone in to fight for maximum protection for lgbt families. oodruff: i read the obituary of sharon bottoms mattes in "the washington post" sunday and reminded it was just as we said, 25 yearsago, that

this happened, that she had to go through this, a woman who had had to drop out of high school and worked and was not allowed to ke her own son. it's hard to believe it was in such a recent part o american history. >> no, i think that's right, and it's testament to sort of how much has changed and how much progress that we have made and the courage of same-sex families and individuals like sharon who, at a time when the law really was not on their side, were willing to do whatever it took to try and defend theirns relatips with their own children. so the world is a better place, a safer place for lgbt families, in many, many parts of the country, but still there oare lo places where you cross state lines and your rights become much more tenuous. woodruff: in many ways she's owed a debt of gratitude. >> absolutely, in many ways her willingness to fight for their

son is a picture of love their families and why we have been able to make the progress tht we've made. >> woodruff: sharon mcgowan of lambda legal, thank yo very >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally tonight, the first major andy warhol retrospective organized by an american museum in 30 years has brought record-breakingte ance to the whitney museum in new york. as part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas," jeffrey brown examines warhol's particular relevance to our social media times. >> brown: campbell soup cans: so familiar as consumer products, and, after andy warhol, as art objects. we can almost overlook warhol'se achnt: re-making how we see the world, in ways that continuto this day. >> he still feels like an artist for the 2ce1sury. and i think in part it's because of this understanding of the

world of images that we ve in. >> brown: donna de salvo has put together the exhibition the "andy warhol: from a to b and back again," more than 350 works in a variety of media, now at new york's whitney museum, where de salvos senior curator. it's a chance to get beyondrh 's own "15 minutes of fame" and see him whole.ts >> what often lost is th understanding of him as an artist, as a maker of things, and as someone who really this incredible understanding of visual culture, but also the history art itself. and so there's a seriousness to warhol's project, whh i think is often overlooked. in part because we know this man, this sort of persona. >> brown: and the celebrity. >> and the celebrity, and all those things sencemdibly superficial. >> brown: here we see a warhol most don't know: watercolor of the living room in

the pittsburgh house he grew up in. child of working class catholic immigrants from slovakia.r, laarhol would appropriate the religious imagery. >> just think about his understanding of the icon, and the choice of, of course the first is really marilyn, and he does marilyn on a gold background. >> brown: there's a wall of golden shoes, from the period when warhol was a successful graphic designer and illustrator in new york. commercial cultu a fine art came together in the early '60s. coke bottles, celebrity icons, reproduced, over and over, with variations of lor and form. >> warhol reflects the incredible contradiction of america and american culture, which is our strdeonre for innovation and the equal desire to conform. >> brown: but did he expose it or celebrate it? isn't that the warhol question of whether he's critiquingpi lism or celebrating it?

>> i think he did both, but i f ink he leaves that up to the viewer, and a lotitics were, you know, felt that his work was purely a celebration of bepitalism. i don't think souse i think again he, it's ambiguous, there's an ambiguity within in. >> brown: he brought to eerie life disaster scenes and race riots. put lipstick and rouge on a giant chairman m. and warhol also worked hard to n imaguct his ow he surrounded himself with celebrities of the day in thect so-called y where he and a team made the work, and by night at the flashy studio 54 nightclub. said to be shy in person, he played at being naive and shallow, though his friends knew better. he was a gay man, growing up in a more conservative er is it fair to say that this exhibition brings that out more than we've seen, more than he showed?lu >> oh, ably, because the work of the 1950s, which is where you see the more overt

homoerotic imagery, first of all was never shown in warhol's life >> brown: de salvo points to coded wortks such as the "13 m wanted men" series, and the famous "silver marlon" portrait from 1963. >> so there's all issues of desire that are evident in the work. he's the anti-hero on some level, but he's also this beautiful man. >> brown: warhol loved the camera, still and moving, as an image-making tool, and here, too, played with conventions: making experimental films and videos, and subverting the hollywood "screen test" byki subjects, including edie sedgwick, his most famous muse, to do absolutely nothing, creating a new kind of visual portrait. and he pioneered an idea that would become very familiar today: documenting life momen by moment. claire henry is the assistant curator of the andy warhol film project also at the whitney. >> he started to film people

at we would film with our iphones. so, his friends, people he worked wisth, his colleagues, paramours, all of these people in his circles. >> brown: you're seeing his early films as our version of social media? >> absolutely, yeah, and they function in that way, the very earliest ones. he did document everything, and not just on , fit also on polaroids, on still photograp, audio tapes. he was a mass collector and an amasser of information and stuff. brown: in 1968, valerie solanas, a writer and radical feminist activist, shot and nearly killed warhol. many critics saw warhol's artistic influence wane in the '70s and '80s wk that followed: the portraits, often commissioned, of frien, stars and political figures, the celebrity focus of "interview" magazine which he co-founded, even an mtv series, "andy warhol's 15 minutes." but the exhibition makes a case for his continuing artistic

vitality and experimentation: including a turn to abstraction, as in these large rorschach images. and a playful fascination with art history. george condo, a leading contemporary artist who studied and later got to know warhol, showed us two large canvases in which warhol us the imagery of onardo da vinci: one with 63 barely visible mona lisas, the other, a camouflaged "last supper." >> what he loved is the way the randomness, and the chance aspect of where the camouflage will fall, and how it will shade the different things, and how it just turns t that christ is here, and judas is in this sort of purpl tone, and then all this other work that's going one omehow claims ownership of the last supper in his work, by using it a painting.stance of his >> brown: why is he still so important? i mean, even for a contemporaryt aroday?

>> it's the way e image burns a memory into your brain, that he's found a way to ult it so you walk out of there, and remember what you saw. and it's not going anywhere, it's never going to go anywhere. it's just the >> brown: andy warhol died in 1987, at age 58, after complicat surgery.m gallbladder as the exhibition makes clear, in our own age of instagram, a reality tv star turned president, the blending of high and low, the ideas and imagery represented in his work are still very much with us. "andy warhol: from a to b and back again" is on through the end of march. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the whitney museum in new york. >> woodruff: starting in may, you can at the san francisco museum of modern art.

a lieutenant in the u.s. coast guard has been arrested in an alleged domestic terror appall. christopher paul hasson had a hit list thaclt ed top democrats and members of the news media. hasson was taken into custody last week on gun and drug charges. hel appear in a federal court in maryland tomorrow t. rsday, former acting director of the f.b.i. andrew mccabe joins me for an interview. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for thpbs newshourhas been provided by: >> text night a day. >> cat on replay. >> burning some fat. >> sharing the latest viral cat! >> you can do the things you plke to do with a wireles designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language.

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. hello, everyone, and we will come do "amanpour & company." re's what's coming up. >> foreign-born isis fighters o come ir brides want t home as the caliphate collapses. but should they be allowed to return? then, is cancer a test of character? how one woman's diagnosis opened her eyes to tt controversial take. she explains in her book "everything happen for a reason and other lies i've loved". the chasm widens. has the westeff alliance sued lasting damage?