captiong sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, equal rights for all-- the supreme court rules employers can no longer discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. then, ongoing ouage-- another officer-involved killing in the u.s. sparks protests and more questions about police use o force. us, investing in community-- minneapolis becomes a testing ground for a nationwide push to reallocate law enforcement budgetin the wake of georgeat floyd's de and, challenge trials-- why thousands of young people around tee world are volunteering to be deliberately infwith covid 19, hoping to accelerate the development of a vaccine.

>> there is a real benefit to be able to take one step that's useful opotentially useful and i think that helps with coping with this really terrible disease and terrib situation we're right now. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation forn public broadca and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: we have three major stories tonight, another police killing continues to fuel protestsor justice and racial equality. covi19 cases are back on the rise as the country tries to open up. but first, a historic ruling from the u.s. supreme court today, outlawing job discrimination on the basis of transgender identity. john yang breaks down what the justices said and what it means. >> yang: the court's decision declaring that a six-decade old civil rights law protects gay and transgendered workers from employment discriminatioarwas stated c and simply:" an employer who fire individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. sex plays a necessary and undisguible role in the decision, exactly what [the law] forbids."e

justil gorsuch, a member of the court's conservative faction, wrote the opinion and was joined by chief justice john roberts and the four liberal justices in the 6-to-3 majority. the ruling is a milestone for gay rights and comes at a time when minorities across the country are speaking out for justice. >> what do we want? >> justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> yang: as in this joint "blacr lives matt" and l.g.b.t.q. rights march yesterday in los angeles. before today's decision, it was legal in 28 states to fire somee, refuse them a promoti or not protect them from simply because the gay ornt transgender. marcia coyle is chief washington correspondent for the national law journal. t could it is fair to call lan mark decision, one is because it has been a long timei ng, long fought by the lgbtq community. we don't know ye all the implications of the decision. and some of the questions that

were raised in the opinion, justice gorsh said will be saved for another day. but it clearly is going to make employers across the uned states think about their employments policies towardswo theiers as well as jo applants. >> yang: gorsuch brushed aside the trump administration's argument that the civil rights act of 196was not written with gay and transgender people in mind. in dissent, justice samuel alito, writing for himself and justice clarence thomas, was just as blunt. "there is only one word for what the court has done today:" legislatio it was the supreme court's firsh gay decision not written by retired justice anthony kennedy, who stepped down in gorsuch, a trump appointee, clerked for kennedy, as did the etird dissenting justice, kavanaugh, whom president trump

kavanaugh wrote that the court effectively amended the civil rights law, a power that" ...belongs to congress and the president in the legislative process, not to thisourt." >> gorsuch he can't telegraph where he was going during the oral arguments back in october. about the text of title 7, the words that employers shall not discriminate bcause ofsex. this is perhaps his most in depth application of tect allism and how he rds >> yang: the justices ruled in three cases, two involving men who sued after they said they were fired for being gay. sky-diving instructor don zarda was fired in 2010 afteing r female clillent o was about to rapped to him for a jump, that he was gay.di

after zard in a 2014 accident, his case was pressed and by melissa zarda, hisoore, younger sister.wa >> ia double standard if he would have, you know, casually mention his wife whil he was on a skydive. nothing would have happened. and he felt like he mentioned his husband and he got fired for it. not only was it really painful for him, butnthat he never anybody else to go through anything like this. >> yang: the other case involved gerald bostock, who was fired from a county job in georgia after he joined a gay softball team. i did nothing wrong. td now i have e validation in that, by opinion that was given today. >> the transgend rights case > yang: the transgender rights case was brought by aimee stephens, who was dismissed from a michigan funshal home after told her boss she would begin living as a woman. the company said she failed to follow the dress code. stephens died of kidney failure last month after seeing her case argued before the stices in october. today her wife, donna, issued a

two-word statement: "we won." transgender rights will likely remain an issue in federal courts for a little while. on friday the trump administration eliminated protecti t forransgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals and insurance companies under the affordable care act. the wsuits against th have already been announced. rujudy? >> wo: a lot to pour through, to dig through today. john, so as the crtouomes toward, closer to the end of this term, they are already beginning to set the agenda for next term. and what were you able to learn about that today? >> well, we leaed three hot-button issues that they will not be taking up. which only meant thaere were four justices-- there were notst at lour justices willing to take up those cases, those issues. e is gun laws there were about a dozen gun laws being challenged and gun

inghts advocates were hop this conservative court would take them up. the court turned them all down. that draw a little bit of a rebuke from justice clarence thomas writing for himself and justice kavanaugh. he said surely thiucourt wold take up restrictions on free spch or he pointedly added, restrictions on the right to an abortion, access to an abortion. but today faced with the petition challenging a restriction on citizens' sec amendment rights, he wrote, the court simply looked the other iy. another issue th getting a int of attention now because of the police shoo and cases of excessive force by police is the doctr qualified immunity. this is a dectes old idea tha the supreme court has said that police officers and other government officials cannot be sued in civil curt unless they clearly violate the law or violate some clear constitutional standard. by coincidence, because these

cases were sent to the court before, there were aout 8 cases that the court was being askedid to reco this doctrine, they turned them all down. and finally, state sanlactuary . the courts today rejected a bid from the trump admatinisn to review a california sanctuary state law that forbids state lai enforcement ofs from providing certain information to federal immigration officials. they said they are not going to relaew that so thastands. judy, the justices usually like end of june.eir business by the but because of time they lost because ofhe pandemic and the early days of the pandemic, they say they may be working into july this year. >> woodruff: we will be reporting not just on what theg, justices ruled on but what they have kleined to rule. on a lot on your plate, thank you, jo.

to look closer at what this historicecision means for l.g.b.t.q. rights, i'm joined by alphonso david, he is the president of theuman rights campaign, the largest civil rights organization devoted to l.g.b.t. equality. and chase strangio, the deputy director for trans justice with the american civil liberties union's l.g.b.t. and h.i.v.oj t. he was one of the lawyers working on the case decided today. welcome to both of you. and let me start with you, alphonso david, just put thi in a larger con tech. what does today's ruling mean? >> today's ruling means that lgbtq people across this country canow go to bed knowing that the federal courts are protecting them from discriminations at work. we have had cse decisions in the past 20 years that said that lgbtq people are protected under

federal civil rights law. that principle was challenged in the u.s. supreme court. and today we have a ruling that says lgbtq people are protected under federal civil rights, employment discrimination andg that is the bgest take away. what about for youhow do you as somebody who has fought for th kin of rights that were debated before the court and are now handed down in this opinion, what does it mean to you? >> you know, this was an incredle day coming on the heels of so many inredible and heartbreaking days of organizing and resistanc and the work has been fought for decades. but at is an incredibly basic proposition that you shouldn't be fired fm work jusbecause of who you are. it was a conservative legal principle. it was a conservative case of statutory interpretation and incredibleo have a 6-3uling

from the united states supreme court that undermines effortso sabotage protections for lgbtqt that we have seen from the governnt since president trum was elected. ufoo>>of:dre sriers comeling do? what does it mean from a practical standpoint? >> from a practical standpoint this decision means that if you face discrimination at work, you have the ality to seek redress in court under federal civil rights laws. but it does not provide comprehensive protections for lgbtq people and that is what we are fighting currently in isngress. ther piece of legislation called the equality act. anf that piecegislation would provide comprehensive legal protections for lgbtq people in housing, in public accommodations, credit,tion and the like. under currentaw thre are no

federal protections for lgbtq people for public accommodations, no protections in credit. and so we're lacking to make sure that those protections are enshrined in law and that will be the equality act. if pass it passed the house of presentatives, it is currently stalled in the u.s. senate. >> woodruff: aha strangio, in terms of rights for transindividuals an area that you have a special interest in, is this going to make difference at a practical level. >> yes, i would think two things. first it will absolutely make a difference. this as alphonso said is going to ensure that there are employment protections for transgender people across the country andelarify that federal prohibition on sex discriminationsnclu transgender people. that will likely extend to all of the federal statutes that prohibit sex discrimination it also undermines the efforts by the trump administration to trans individuals and all lgbtqt

people ihealth care whi is absolutely integral to our survival. and at the same time a formal legal ruling isn't thfe end o the story. we have a ton of work to do to protecour back trans siblings to the violence they are experiencing at the haf the state, at the hands of individuals and we have to keep ,0organizing. people showed up in brooklyn on sunday, yesterday, for trans lives. and so that is part of what ensures that the material impac of today's decision is felt. that we don't lose momentum but absolutely today is a huge moment for trans people, a huge moment for the whole lgbtq and the whole civil rights community. >> woodruff: alphonso david, i want you to pick up on that, it was just on friday that e trump administtion moved to individuals under fn afydaor gwo

change the argument with regard to that? is that still standing? that is still standing, unfortunately. as you said, the trump administration finalized regulations on friday that would effectivelymi disction-- discriminate dpens transgender members of our community and gender community as well as women. we believe the trump administration has exceeded itsh ity. they do not have the authority to rewrite the law and that is effectively what they rying to do. we believe this decision should have an imponac executive administrative action. but if the trump administration continues to advance these regulations and they refuse to rescind the regulations, we wild beancing legal action. we did announce on friday that against the trump leal action administration. i'm hopeful that tod decision allows them to reflect but if they refuse to we will be suing them. continue with that, chase

strangio, because it's not just this mat took place on friday, it was the steps by the trump administration to say transgender individuals can't legally serve in the forces and a number of other steps they've taken. so whado you see as the task that lies ahead of you and others who are fighting for transgender rights within the trump adnistration is not the final word on discrimination against of sex. the supreme court is. and today the supreme curt made unequivocally clear that discrimination because of anal indivi sex includes discrimination against lgbtq people. so i agree. i think that the hhs regulation is void. i think that effor to discriminate against transgender students are no longer teconsistent with the stas has been made clear by the supreme court but all of these issues will be percolating in our already being litigated in the lower courts. in terment of rotections and the context of education, in the contean of

housind shelter, as well as under the affordable care act in the coe.ext of health car when it comes to the ban on-- open mitary service by transgender people, this will apply to civilian conactors, title 7 does apply. title 7 does not apply to-- sor the fight ovansgender military ban continues. it continues in the lowerun courtsrtunately the supreme court allowed the ban ti o effect. but ultimately a new president could take away that ban almost immediately. so there are so many fights ahead and some of them be litigated in the lower courts. some of can be fixed by executive action but ultimately we're going to keep fighting ins every ble way to ensure munityur full lgbt com particularly the black and brown people who had been leading the fight and taking the bruntf the disimination are leading the fighand center. >> woodruff: alphonso david with the human rights campaign and david strangio with the aclu, we thank you both within

thank you. >> thank you. oss oodruff: a new killing by tr police, ounew estcriat the city onta is the newest focus tonight of the justice.ng campaign for racial william brangham begins our coverage. >> brangham: hundreds of protesters turned out in downtown atlanta this morning, marching against police brutality and demanding change. the flashpnt was the fatal shooting three days ago of rayshard brooks, a 27-year-old black man, by a white police officer. chastity evans is brooks' niece. >> not only are we hurt, we are angry. when does this stop?! we are not only pleading for justice, we are pleading for change.ra a bham: on friday night police answered ll that brooks was asleep in his car in a wendy's drive-through lane.

it began as a calm encounter, but escalated when police tried driving.t brooks for drunk brooks struggled and fought with the officers, then ran awawith what appeared to be one of the offices taser guns. while fleeing, one of the officers shot him twice in the back. atlanta's police chieferika the shooting. the officer who shot brooks, garrett rolfe, has bee and the other officer at the scene, devin brosnan, has been placedn administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation. atlanta's d.a. said he'll decide this week whether to file any c criminrges will be filed. today atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms said it's "abundantly clear" there is a need to review the rules and the training for how police use deadly force. weo not have another day, another minute, another hour to wait. it's very clear that our police

officers are to be guardians and not warriors within our >> brangham: brooks' killi fueled new fury throughout theek wed, with thousands of people protesting in atlanta and elsewhere. >> people are done waiting for a change.d anerybody is standing togeth, everybody is walking, everybody is making noise. we just want to be heard! >> brangham: the wendy's, where rayshard brooks was killed, was torched on friday night. his widow, tamika miller, appealed today for an end to any violence.us >> iask that if you could just keep it as a peaceful protest, that would be wonderful, because we want to keep his name positive and great. >> brangham: mnwhile in minneapolis, the pressure is still building to dismantle the city's police department in the wake of george floyd's killingre weeks ago, when a white officer pressed a knee to floyd's neck for almost nine minutes. sterday, democratic minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar

insisted the minneapolis police department needs a complete overhaul. >> you can't really reform a root.tment that is rotten to the what you can do is rebuild. >> brangham: elsewhere: stprotesters in seattle arl occupying a small part of the city's capitol hill neigorhood, after police abandoned their precinct there a week ago in an effort to ease tensions storefronts are boarded up and covered in graffiti, and barricades mark the borders of the roughly six-block so-calle"" capitol hill autonomous zone". officials need retake the area he will deploy the national guard to do a do, in souther and, in southern california: the families of two young blac men are demanding investigations after the two were found hanging from trees, 50 miles apart, in recent days.s both their deare initially ruled suicides, but relatives say they fear the men were

lynched. alex villanueva is the los angeles county sheriff. >> we'll answer all the questions and we'll get full closure to what happened here. i reached out to attorney general javier becerra and they vide aw going to p monitor and review all of our didn't leave any rturned.e we >> brangham: all this comes as the united nations' human rights council in geneva has announced plans to debate system racism and police brutality in the u.s. and elsewhere on wednesday. those concerns triggered solidarity protests around the world over the weekend. from new zealand... >> this has been happening for years and to fally be able to speak up about it and feel like i'm doing something to help you know? it means a lot. >> brangham: to brazil, and in france. for e pbs newshour, i'm william brangham.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. food and drug administration withdrew emergency approval for hospitals to use hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19. the f.d.a. said the malaria drug is unlikely to be effective against the coronavirus. president trump has touted the drug, and defended it ain today. >> i can't complain about it, i took it for two weeks and here we are. i took it and felt good about taking it, i don't know if it had an impact, but it certainly didn't hurt me. >> woodruff: meanwhile, infections continue to increase across much of the united states. arizona, texas, and florida have reported surging case number and alabama's weekly case average is up 92%. at least 18 more states and puertoico also report rising infections.

also today, chinese officials shut down beijing's largest outdoor food market and orded new testing after an outbreak of dozens of cases. russia, a moscow court sentenced american paul whelan today to 16 years in prison on spying charges.er the fo.s. marine was arrested in december 2018, and has denied the chaes. u.s. officials called it a "mockery of justice " we'll exple case later in e e program. p two officials at the u.s. government-funded "voice of america" have resigned amid clashes with president trump. amanda bennett and her deputy director stepped down today. that came after the president charged v.o.a.'s coronavirus coverage was too easy on china. he also tapped conservative filmmaker michael pack to oversee v.o.a.'s parent organization. on wall street today, stocks slumped,hen rallied after the

federal reserve said it will buy more corporate bds. the dow jones industrial average gained 157 points to close at 25,763.n it had bwn 760 at one point. thd,nasdaq rose 137 points, the s&p 500 added 25.3r and, the"oscars" awardsn will be heldril 25, 2021, two months later than originally planned.ed it's postpfter the coronavirus shutdown production, and postponed theater films in mid-march. the academy has also extended the deadline for movies to be eligible for the 2021 awards to february 28, 2021. still to come on the nshour: minneapolis becomes a testing ground for a nationwide push to why thousands are volunteering to be infected with covid 19 in the search for a vaccine.er two ans are imprisoned overseas by autocratic governments. and much more.

>> woodruff: now to minneapolis, where george floyd was killed by police. since his death, a movement to gismantle the police department as we know it" hwn stronger. and it has the support of a majority of city council members. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro takes a look at what this might mean. >> reporter: as fire and rage overwhelmed long stretches of the lake street business district late last month, minneapolis city councilor alondra cano says residents oftt her ward took s into their own hands, trying to salvage what little they cou

she live streamed their effort onacebook. >> we started with, you know, small, small buckets of water and throwing them at the fire, and then finally the neighbors from the oth block had access to an old fire hose and were able to open the fire hydrant there. >> reporter: when they finally heard from law enforcement, cano says, it was with teashbangs and gas, imposing the strict no exceptions curfew. she says such experiences have given swift rise to a movement and the slog "defund the lice," the sentiment is plastered across the city and a itveto proof majority of tco counciitted itself to" ending the minneapolis police department."y >> heerybody, we need to organize our o and no one else is coming to our aid. >> reporter: using social media, community organizers like sam gould, brought huge crowds to

the powderhorn neighborhood park the first morning after protests began. it's now up to the people to inform themselves and set the agenda of what a police free future is. >> reporter: school teacher jessica mueller: >> if anything is going to happen to keep us safe, and to keep us as a solid community, it's going to have to come up from within the community. so the last people that h feel safe wght now are the mpd, who we pay. >> i like to more specly think about it as reimagining public safety.ep >>ter: philippe cunningham serves the city's fourth ward. >> at the enof the day, we want to make sure that when anyone calls 911, that they have the most appropriate their emergency crisis, and that .they are being kept safe >> reporter: he says that response could be from a social worker, mental health ofessional or armed cops when that is deemed appropriate; ati shoo or armed robbery, say. e e council plans to initi long process, including likely a referendum, to change the city's charter.

at the same time, and alloe it to shift s the $193 million annual police department budget to community-based ograms. councillors say they want to address underlying problems liks homelessnd other symptoms of poverty that drive crime and violen. critics of the council's move say they are alarmed at the lack of details or time frame. steve cramer, with a downtown business association, says it sendthe wrong message to the economically vital companies and sport venues who want reassure customers, employees and fans that the downtown is safe. >> there's no plan.la there's noto make a plan. yet there's this very poovocative headline out there, kind of a talkint that's created a huge vacuum that people are filling with their their worst fears.aspirations or >> reporter: others worry about morale in the minneapolis police department, troubledears

by officer-involved shootings and allegations of misconduct. 13 officers have either quit or are in the process of resigning since george floyd's killing. another group published its own open letter, condemning the actions of their former colleague, chauvin. >> 99% of those police officers go to work every day, with the right attitude, and the right mindset. >> reporter: rich stanek is a former minneblolis cop, rean state legislator and former sheriff of hennepin county, which includesity. >> they've been attacked from every angle by the elected officials, the residents themselv, others across the country whom they've never met. it's going tbe hard to overcome, er, rebuild. >> reporter: however, police officers enjoy significant protection from laws that allow wide latitude in the use o force, and powerful unions, which have lobbied successfully for state laws againstency requirements. 93% of minneapolis officers live

outside the city. and only a tiny fraction of thei city's police rs who are brought up on misconduct charges face any discipline and ryeir discipliecords are kept from public view. >> it's been very difficult to hold officers accountable, you know, for e chief to fire officers that, you know, he or she finds problematic because of thr orbevi. >> reporter: university ofa minnesciologist joshua page says that behavior also hat he calls an entrenched warrior culture in american policing. but page says the gege floyd case-vividly on video, has moveh e american attitudes like none before it. l >>k of impunity generated a lot of rage i think white people, including mylf are being forced to see the things that people in certain communities have havn. >> reporter: that might bode well for reform in public safety

approaches, he says. still, the process will take time and not be easy, even among the powderhorn neighboy looking to rre on each other and less on 911. >> most of the people, that 1000 that came, were white. and this neighborhood is white neighborhood. >> reporter: huda, who wanted only her first name used, sa d it is racialerse and divided by class-and different priorities >> to be honest, the very first things that people were talking about, were property, and i was like, eat, my apartment might burn down. but i'm also concerned for my own safety and for the safety of people who look like me. and i haven't heard a single one of you mention that. >> reporter: these neighbors agree that rooting out ingrained biases will be a challenge. so too might be sustaining the entire community's interest in police reform, amid historic events, like a pandemic and a presidential electio

for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro, in minneapolis. olpanership for the unde stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. president trump is expected to sign an execuvewi ordll focus n issues of training and information sharing. but the admicistration offial said it is not expected to enforcement.emic racism in law >> woodruff: as the world anxiously awaits the development of a covid-19 vaccine, new and ntroversial measures are being considered for the first time. amna nawaz repts on a growing group of young volunteers eager to be subjects in tests that

might help the world move forward, despite the persol risks. >> nawaz: sean doyle is a 31 year-old medical student at ory university. he's also one of the first americans to test a potential vaccine for covid-19. >> if my participation in this vaccine trial can heany way and eventually ensure that it's not infecti people in the u.s. anymore and other places ngan it would be a great t to participate in. >> nawaz: he knows the risks are still unknown, but he's had to weigh them befe. a few years ago he took part in another vaccine trial, that one for ebola. >> it made me a lot more confident that this was a good choice and the potential benefits would probably far outweigh the risks. pa nawaz: doyle is taking rt in a traditional clinical trial, a process that usually unfoldsse in three p first, small groups receive the test vaccine to test for its basic safety. the study is then expanded to include target groups for the vaccine, before its then given

to thousands more who then go tck to their daily s, wehosew that process relies on people getting accidentally exposed to the virus and can often take months or years, leading health experts to warn the best case scenario for a covid 19 vaccineo d be a long way off. >> although this is the fastest we've gone from a sequence to a trial it still would not be applicable to the epidemic unless we wait about a year to a year and off. >> nawaz: the urgency d a vaccine has led to concerns that those traditional clinical g quickly are already under enou.ovary men't and there's now growing calls to controvwaersial kind of trial. lethey are called human che trials, in which, a smaller group of volunteers are given ac e and then deliberately infected with covid 19 to quickly test whether it works.

>> so challenge studies fill a really critical gap there. >> nawaz: seema shah, a bioethicist at northwestern t university, sa real value of human challenge trials is their speed. >> so you can take two groups of people randomize one to receive a vaccine. the other to receive placebo and then expose them to the virus. and if you see a difference between those two groups, you know, very quickly whether that vaccine worked. >> nawaz: now, up until this point, human challenge trials have only ever been used with diseases like malaria or typblid fever-- cuif the vaccine fails. with covid 19, there is no cure. >> challenge trials have a lot of promise and potential. but we have to be sure that they're going to realize that potential and that we can manage the risks appropriately. >> nawaz: a recent study published in the "journal of infectious diseases" also says that human challenge trials could have the potential to accelerate a coronavirus vaccine. and a group of over 30 members

of congress has urged the federal government to consider using human challenge trials, likening the fight against the pandemic to war, in which "therr is a lonition of volunteers risking their health and lives, to help save the lives of oths. that chance to help save lives is what led 34-year-old new yorker josh morrison to look into the trials.ou >>now, first i thought it seemed like a good idea to explore. its something that could make a significant difference. >> nawaz: after becocomi a kidney donor in 2011, morrison left his corporate law job and launched a non-profit to make donation easier. he launched a new non-profit, called one day sooner, signing up volunteers for a po viman challenge 19trcofoiar s a reere i al benefke to feeling o be able to take one step that's, you know, useful or tentially useful. and i think that helps with kind ofop cinwith this really terrible disease a terrible situation we're in right now.

lnt, hilistas sadilov today more than 28,000 volunteers, mostly in their 20's and 30's, have signed up from more than 100 countries. to be deliberately infected witd a virus. s yes, yes. >> nawaz: did thprise you? >> it did. forward, i always did feel like there would be more than enough people who'd be eligible to do it, who would want to do it. >> nawaz: 31 year-old lehua gray, of austin, texas, is one ofhose volunteers who thin the risks are worth it. she signed up with her parents in mind. >> my mom works for the v.a. and my dad works for the t.s.a. and when i, so they're basically like on the front lines every single day. and they're both essential. so they can't, they can take measures to protect themseanes, so, like for me, if i could take some of the risk off of them and put it onto myself, e i'm young and healthy you know, they're much more high risk, like that's a no brainer. >> naz: 23 year-old lena jewler, also signed up. she's a masters' student at

johns hopkins unersity school of public health. >> finding a vaccine faster and a safe vaccine faster an efoctive vaccine faster has many benefits attributed to it, not just, you know, lives saved, but being able to cially interact in ways that we haven't been able to in the past month and a half and perhaps won't be able to again until there's a vaccine. >> nawaz: but doctor mike levine, who has worked on vaccine development since the late 1960's, including more than a hundred challee trials for diseases like cholera and if someone in your family came to you right now and said, i think i want to volunteer forls these trwhat would you say? >> i would say right now, i would recommend not >> nawaz: levine argues the time it would take to safely set up the first human challenge trials for coronavirus might not actually be faster than the clinical trials already underway. and if the human challenge trials only include young,he

thy people, there's no guarantee a vaccine would help the most vulnerable.te >> qside from the ethical issues, this would be very complicated. this is not a walk in the park at the moment. we had a vaccine that worked only in young adults, that would be helpful if it didn', and it's possible if it didn't work in protecting the elderly, they may havto spend the rest of their, lives until covid transmission diminishes in a gree of seusion. >> nawaz: still, seema shah has been working with the world health organization to develop the ethicacriteria that need be met if experts decid move forward on a covid 19 human challenge trial. >>isesearchers have to know is worth doing and they have to make a solid case about that. and given everything that's happening right now, that's a difficult case to make. but it's not out of the question. i just think that if we're going to do something like this and

expose people to risk in a way that we haven't really done ine challeudies in the past, it's really important to do it in a way that we know will move the needle. >> nawaz: and maybe move one step closer to ending the covid 19 pandemic.th fopbs newshour, im amna nawaz. >> woodruff: twomericans overseas received lengthy jail sentences in proceedings watched closely here, and around the world. nick schifrin now looks at the cases oformer marine paul whelan in russia, and the j renownrnalist maria ressa, in the philippines. >> so, it is what it is. paul whelan listenm adefeated glass cage to what his lawyer caed a sentence without idence, and a judgement without translation. >> your honor, i don't know what you said.

>> schifrin: outside the courthouse, u.s. ambassador to russia john sullivan called whelan's trial a sham. >> it's a mockery of justice, i can't say i'm surprised. if they can do it to paul, they can do it to anyone. >> schifrin: wlan is a former police officer and marine, who loved to travel. he was arrested in moscow in december 2018, and accused ofsp ng, a charge he has consistently denied. turned 50 and spent more than 500 days in prison, and has made his case, through bars and jostling journalists.ho >> ah russia says it caught james bond on a spy mission, in reality, they abducted mr. bean on holiday. i'm the victim of an assault by a prison agent, and that's something that you need to cover. >> schifrin: david whe paul's twin brother. do you believe your brother has gotten a fair trial? >> paul has been given a terrible deal with the russian system, both from being entrapped at the very beginning, not being able to have translated evidence. t not being abhave witnesses appear. the whole thing is a railroad. >> schifrin: moscow says it's interested in a prisoner swap.

for konstantin yaroshenko, a former military pilot convicted by a u.s. court of conspiracy to notorious arms dealer viktor nsut, convicted of conspiracy to kill u.s. citize and officials. last november senior uate department official julie fisher rejected the swap. >> there is no need to discuss a swap, particularly for someone who was a convted criminal. >> i don think there's ever been a question that's what he's been held for. i would be very conflicted about paul being a tourist, even though the russians called him a spy, being exchanged a russian arms dealer, a russian drug dealer. wa>> schifrin: 5,000 milesy, maria ressa walked out of a trial she also called a sham. the filipna-american journalt a former cnn correspondent, and started the independent news outlet, rappler. >> we're at the precipice, if we fall over we're no longer a democracy. are we a democracy or not? >> there will be nup in this campaign.

>> schifrin:ince 2016, filipino president rodrigo duterte has carried out a war on drugs, that the u.n. calls an extrajudicial, murderous crkdown that killed 12,000 he's also waged war on the press and dissent, shutting down the untry's largest broadcaster just last month. zerappler repeatedly criti duterte, and linked a prominent even though ressa editdrugs. that article, and even though it was published eight years ago, she could face six years in prison. w >> agoing to lose freedom of the press, will it be death by 1,000 cuts, or are we going to hold the line so that we protect the rights that are enshrined in our conion? >> it looks like a targeted attack on a single journalist who has been, written a lot, or done aot of highly critical coverage of the duterte administration. th is a threat to ever journalist in the country. >> schifrin: stevebutler is

the committee to project journalist's asia coordinator. he says the threat to journalism in asia, goes beyond the >> many government have activated anti-terror laws oor libel laws, fake news laws. this is part of a broader trend that has forced press freedom further into retreat from whatn we've seencent years. >> schifrin: whether through jailing journalists, or hostage become the targetsricans have governments pursuing their agendas, by manipulating justice. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick hifrin. >> woodruff: as presidentrump ars up for his first campaign rally since the pandemic hit, we ke aook at the political pressures on him to act on police reform.cs our polionday team is here

to analyze that and more. amy walter of "the cook political report" and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr.ho she also cs the "npr politics podcast." >> woodruff: legalo to both of you, it is monday, a lot to talk about. we have just learned amy that in this executive order presidentg trump will be ng tomorrow the white house putting out word that it will say something about training, something aboutan arency, about information sharing and about community policing. we don't now many details. how much pressure is there now on president trump to do something about police reform?ud >> there is a lot of pressure on him. i mean i think many of us haveed been surprt how quickly this issue, not onl rcked it up to the list of issues americans say they are concerned about. i saw a cnn poll that showed this as the number one issue for

voters. obviously many more democrats see this as a top issue than repuicans. but still it was ranked higher even than covid. and i also think we have been american's opinions,ckly specifically white american's opinions not just about police but also racism writ large in this country have changed in such a short period of timd e. e president needs to get with the right side on this issue. right now joe biden is seen as having an advantage on handling race relations. the cnn poll, by more than 30 points. so the president wants to comet derstandably very quickly, put something out there as an executive order.i congress is to in all likelihood get to this issue at some point in july which wil give the presi adennton somethi. woodruff: so tam, you cover the white hou. if you are president trump or one of the people around him, how do you look at there issue?

>> well, president trump has whshiabeen going ba and forth he m is delivering that message to. he is someone, his campaign ran an ad during the super bowl about criminal justice reform. but at the same time he wants to be the law and order president. and he is speaking to diferent constituencies. but clearly as amy says, thefa that the white house has shed, has worked hard on this executive order, the fact that the president is, according to officials going to be calling on congress to do more, just is a sign of the pressure that he's under to show that he's doingth sog and isn't simply focused on law and order or individual cases. that said, whether he ties this into the larger idea of systemia sm that the protesters are marching about or whether he

really makes this about the few bad apes which is what he has been talking about, which there are a few bad cops, i think tht remains to be seen. it seems much more likely that he is going tlien o the side of well, let's root out the few guys-- . >> woodruff: mean time, the president continues to saney he has dore for african-americans than any. at one point, better than abraham lincoln, it sounded like what he was saying. but amy, i want to a you about this rally. first campaign rally he has had since the pandemic began. oklahoma, the site of a terrible massacre of blacks back in the 1920s. it was going to be held on juneteenth, the anniversary of the end of slavery. they have now moved it to saturday. but my question is,s itill smart for the president to be doing this? >> well, nobody in public health iminks it's a good idea for

to be doing this. the tulsa newspaper, the editor qual board said we love having a president come in, but we with like him to not come inhe middle of a pandemic, especially when it means a whole bunch of people crowded together indoors ehich is according to all hhsibl thing at you can do with covid. but judk y, it comes bacto this. it is the politics of it reall aren't the issue here. it seems to me it is what the president wants to do. he loves getting the adoration of the crowd, he has been missing it desperately. at thethe reason th president though is sitting at a very low point of job approval ratings, in fact, he has dropped now close to 40% jop aproval rating, it is not because he hasn't held enough rallies. m because the twoost important issues right now to americans the covid crisis and race relations, he is seen by majority as not handling tho particularly well. and so doing a rally isn't going

to make his approval ratings move at all. so politically, it's reay for him. it's not for his politic standing. >> woodruff: and tam, help rs unnd the white house thinking here. why do they think it is theto right thin do? >> well, you know, he dosn like polls, right? he doesn't trust the polls but he doesn't have the thing to point to to sa look, the polls are wrong. i have amazing enthusiasm, vus look at these ople. well, after saturday he is going to have that back. he's gong to be able t say look at those 19,000 people that we packed into the center in tulsa,klahoma, and look joe biden. is he still doing small gatherings, you know, that are socially distant. g this is ning to be socially distant. the trump campaign told me da they will be passing out masks but they will not be required. and theyill pass out hand

sanitizer. but the arena will be absolutely full is what they say. president trump has said that you know, social distancing wouldn't look so good for ara y, it it wouldn't really work. so he is going to have this big bold, loud example of how he has enthusiasm. now you know, does one rally they gate bunch of negative polls, probably not. but it will look good in the ads. >> woodruff: and just a few seconds to each of you, is it a problem for joe biden that he is not getti out, amy? >> well, right now the real clear politics has he joe biden over 8, so no i would say it is not a problem. >> and he is makg a calculated risk that it may not be a great idea to be the source of a superspreader event. we don't know whether the trump rally will turn into a sper spreader event but without social distancing and masks the public health experts i talk to

are really concerned. >> woodruff: i guess if you can be up from your base eight up from your basent, why change things. tamara keith, amy walter, well thank you both. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, the latest episode of our podcast, "america interrupted." this week, we look at the police department in camden, new jersey, which many point to as a model for reform what did it get right, and where does it fall short? listen now on our website, that's: pbs.org/newshour/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. and that's the newshour for tonight. dy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ed >> suppoy the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org

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♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," we're heading to france. bridget makes julia the ultimate fougasse bread. adam reveals his top pick for automatic soap dispensers. and becky makes bridget a classic provenl vegetable soup. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."