captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, getting the vaccine-- we talk with the surgeon general as the u.s. inoculation effort shifts focus to rural areas and younger americans. then, on trial-- the national rifle association suffers another setback in its bankruptcy trial, calling the organization's future and leadership into question. and, crisis in yemen-- the humanitarian horror wrought by the ongoing war has left millions of children on the brink of starvation. >> we have almost half of the country just one step away from the highest classification possible of hunger. if one waits for famine to be

declared, it's actually too late. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the white house is out with a new vaccine strategy

to steer covid-19 shots to states where demand is higher. the change means shifting doses from states that don't want them to those that do. president biden said today that he wants 70% of u.s. adults to have at least one shot by july fourth. >> that means getting close to 100 million shots-- some first shots, others second shots-- over the next 60 days. of course, americans can still get shots after july 4th, but no one should wait. let's try to hit that 70% mark at least with one shot before that day. >> woodruff: to date, about 56% of adults in the u.s. have gotten at least one shot. we'll discuss vaccinations with dr. vivek murthy, the u.s. surgeon general, after the news summary. india officially hit 20 million covid infections today. that's second only to the u.s. and nearly twice what it was three months ago. confirmed deaths in india have

passed 220,000, and it is widely believed the actual numbers are far higher. in hard-hit mumbai, the nation's first drive-through vaccine station opened today to speed up the rate of inoculations. officials in mexico are promising a quick investigation, after an elevated train track collapsed late monday, killing at least 24 people. a concrete beam buckled as a train rode over, leaving one of the subway cars dangling over a busy road. nearly 80 people were hospitalized. the city's mayor vowed tget answers. >> ( translated ): the public prosecutor's office is conducting a probe that immediately began last night. but we are also looking for an international company specialized in metro and structural matters to carry on an external technical probe that would lead us to what caused this sad incident. >> woodruff: the mexico city metro system is one of the busiest in the world. it has had at least three major

accidents sie opening half a century ago. u.s. intelligence analysts are warning that afghan women will suffer greatly if the taliban regains power once american troops leave this year. the national intelligence council says the militants would roll back 20 years of progress. in the past, they barred girls and women from schools and jobs, and inflicted public beatings. back in this country, intense storms raised alerts across the south again. states from texas to georgia braced for strong winds, possible tornadoes and hail. dozens of schools across alabama and mississippi dismissed students early. the nation's average temperature is now one degree warmer than 20 years ag that data, from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, underscores climate change concerns.

it also shows the eastern and central of u.s. getting wetter, and the west, considerably drier. and, wall street struggled today. tech stocks sank after treasury secretary janet yellen said interest rates might have to rise to prevent the economy from over-heating. the dow jones industrial average edged up 19 points to close at 34,133. but, the nasdaq fell 261 points; nearly two percent. the s&p 500 slipped 28. still to come on the newshour: the n.r.a. suffers another legal blow in its bankruptcy trial. a humanitarian crisis in yemen leaves millions on the brink of starvation. stacey abrams on the future of voting in the u.s. and much more.

>> woodruff: president biden's remarks today signaled somewhat of a shift about vaccine distribution and about expectations of how many adults will get vaccinated by mid- summer. we look at this and other pressing questions with the u.s. surgeon general, dr. vivek murthy. he's a key member of the president's team on covid. dr. murthy, welcome back to the "newshour". let me ask you about what appears to be a shift in emphasis away from these mass vaccination sites to an attet to get a more individuallyized approach, a community-based approach sz to try to reach as many people as possible. how much concern is there that there's rezips to getting the vaccine? >> well, judy, it's good to see you today. i think this is a really important topic which is how do we move forward in this next phase of the vaccination

campaign, and there are a few obstacles and challenges we are trying to address. each phase of this campaign has had its own challenges, but right now what we've got to do is, number one, make sure people who have questions about the vaccine get answers from trusted sources. number two, we've got to make sure if people wondering if it's important to get vaccinated, it is, that we don't achieve community immunity without vaccination. we have to create access for people. you're seeing the next phase of that moving toward both smaller community vaccination centers, more mobile units moving to mandating and requiring and asking pharmacies to actually move from the appointment-based system to more of a walk-in system so people can goat vaccines on their schedule and not a pharmacy schedule. all of these steps are aimed toward increasing access to the vaccine. the primary care pathway, we are working to get vaccines into

primary care offices and rural health clinics which will get vaccines directly from the federal government as well as funds to support outreaches. if these sound like many strategies, there are, because that's what's required to reach the entire country. we have to have many pathways, merges and doors through which one can get vacs made. >> woodruff: i'm crious to how difficult you think it's going to be. the president set the goal of 70% of american adults by july 4. you're at already more than half of american adults. how difficult will it be? >> well, judy, this next goal will require us to administer 100 million shots in the next 60 days, and that's very different from the first 100 million shots. these will be more challenging in some ways, buttist really important we pull out all the stops to reaching the goal and why you see multiple strategies. >> woodruff: the "new york times" quoted some high-level officials saying this concept of herd immunity is no longer

something they think is even worth focusing on because it is now known that a significant percentage of americans, 20, 30% say they don't want the vaccine at all. there's now, it appears, a belief that covid is going to be there in the background for a long time to come, and americans are just going to have to live with it. >> well, judy, it's a very interesting point because i find the discussion around herd immunity can sometimes be not as helpful as i think we would want it to be. i think the real focus should be on how we reduce infections, hospitalizations and deaths and the data is clear, the way we do that is getting more people vaccinated. thinking of the magic number, 70, 75, 80% is really hard to do and i think it's misleading because it conveys this idea that there is a switch that is flipped and until we reach the threshold nothing gets better and as soon as you reach the threshold all of a sudden the

switch flips and everything gets better and the virus goes away. but the reality is we have to vaccinate as many as we can and we'll see life get better, infections reduced and we can get back to our way of life. >> woodruff: the u.s. has been very important. as we've said, more than half of american adults have had at least one shot of the vaccine, but so much of the rest of the world has not been as fortunate. in india, this terrible humanitarian disaster, so many countries, just a fraction of a percent of their population have received a vaccine. how urgent does the u.s. view this decision on either sharing what the u.s. has like astrazeneca, which is not being given here in the u.s., why not go ahead and share that with other countries? >> well, judy, i'm glad you asked, and our fate as a country is extricably linked to the rest of the world and we know that

because of so many reasons, we've learned time and time again, whether ebola, zika or covid, that a virus can go from one country to another. when there's uncontrolled spread of the virus new variants can develop and then travel here to the united states and i think we must and will do more. you've already seen steps taken from the united states investing in covax to help build the foundation for supplying the rest of the world with the vaccine. you saw with the astrazeneca that the u.s. announced, that it will give the doses it has, right now approximately 10 million doses, as soon as they are cleared by the f.d.a., we'll start distributing those to the rest of the world and additional 50 million of astrazeneca ll likely come in may and june. ultimately, what we've got to do is we've got to intend to get to a common and critical end point, which is to make sure that the world has access to an adequate quantity of low-cost vaccines so

that it can vaccinate their population, and whether we get there through government action or through the private sector acting or through a combination of the two, we have to get there, because that is the only way we protect our country in the long term and we have, i believe, an obligation to look out for the rest of the world as well. >> woodruff: i'm asking specifically because, as you know, life or death, every day lives are being lost, and astrazeneca has been approved in other parts of the world. there's also a question about sharing patents with other countries. the sense is that it's taking longer than it should to make the decisions here in the united states. >> judy, with the astrazeneca vaccine, as soon as that batch is cleared by the f.d.a. here, that can then move out to rest of the world to be shared. but it is not the case that we have vaccine fully produced and cleared by the f.d.a. that could be used today by astrazeneca,

otherwise those doses one out. you would see the 50 million additional doses in may and june to follow. there are several things we need to work to put in place. we need to build and help support the manufacturing capacity. we need to ensure that the raw materials are in adequate supply. we need to ensure the technology transfer happens from private companies to facilities in other countries so they can produce now and for later and those are steps that absolutely the united states has been engaged in conversations on those issues and is working as quickly as possible to move that forward because we recognize what is at stake, which is our fate, the fate of the world and millions of people who are infected right now and whose lives hang in the balance. >> woodruff: and finally, dr. murthy, we know you have experienced loss in your own family. seven of your family members have died as a result of covid. how has this affected your approach to this crisis? >> well, judy, you know, i have

lost, you know, seven family members to covid, but i know many others have lost family members, too, and all of us, you know, whatever our walks of life may be have been affected in some way by this virus. maybe we've had family members and friends who were hospitalized, maybe our kids have had to have their education interrupted. maybe your kids are like my 3-year-old and 4-year-old who constantly ask when they can go back to seeing their friends and grandparents again. these are the questions that affected all of us and affect all our lives but for me made this a very personal mission. you know, addressing covid 19, doing so from this rolling government is not an opportunity, it's not a role i ever thought i would have, but it is one i feel called to serve in because i, like many people in our country, want to do everything i can to turn this pandemic around. and i think that the way we get there is not through individuals alone making a decision about getting vaccinated and then

getting vaccinated, i think we've got to do that, but we've also got to go one step beyond and recognize that we all have a responsibility to do what we can for as many people around us as possible, and i hope if we all step up and do this for our communities and we will not only turn this pandemic around but we will leave our communities and connections with one another more stronger and resilient than before this pandemic began. >> woodruff: already vivek murthy, we are, again, so sorry for the losses in your family. thanyou so much for joining us. >> tha you, judy. take care. >> woodruff: the epidemic of shootings in the u.s., and the surge of high-profile mass shootings recently, are adding more fuel to a call for stroer action on gun violence, access to weapons and some limitations. in these debates, people often

point to the long reach and influence of the n.r.a. but what many people may not realize is the leadership of the n.r.a. itself has been on trial the last several weeks for the way it conducts business. stephanie sy has the latest. >> sy: judy, this case has been playing out before a federal judge in texas. closing arguments finished yesterday as part of an unusual bankruptcy trial. the n.r.a. filed for bankruptcy in january as part of a move to reincorporate and relocate from new york to texas. that was after new york state attorney general letitia james sued the n.r.a. and sought to dissolve the non-profit organization. she alleged that top executives, including longtime leader wayne lapierre, illegally misused tens of millions of dollars on things like designer suits and lavish personal trips. the n.r.a. says the lawsuit is political. stephen church has been covering the trial for bloomberg and joins me now.

stephen church, thank you for coming on the "newshour". i know you're a bankruptcy specialist, but i want to backtrack a little bit because wayne lapierre actually testified during this trial. what came out aboutow he managed the n.r.a. and used his position? >> well, it was clear that he had control over most everything that happened at the n.r.a. that was the point. that was one of the major points that the new york attorney general is trying to bring out. there were also lapses in financial controls, the kinds of things you would see that private companies or well-run nonprofits. >> reporter: so what does the n.r.a. bankruptcy filing have to do with the charges against mr. lapierre in new york? was essentially filing for bankruptcy in gun friendly texas a way to escape accountable from regulators in new york? >> that's precisely what the argument was on the side of the new york attorney general and their allies who were arguing

with them. the n.r.a. is making the claim that even though they have plenty of money, this lawsuit is an existential threat to their existence because one of the things that could happen is that the judge -- a judge in new york, if they side wh the knowledge attorney general, could -- the new york attorney general could dissolve the n.r.a. and all the n.r.a. assets, which amountso tens of millions of dollars, could be given to other similar type nonprofits. so they argued because that's a threat, because that's a possibility, they should be allowed to file bankruptcy, even though they have plenty of cash, they're solvent, they're paying their bills on time and doesn't look like they face any immediate threats. >> reporter: so we've seen organizations certainly do that before, stephen church, but is that an appropriate use of bankruptcy filings? >> it's arguably a misuse, and it's a misuse in this way -- you can't escape from a government regulation or a government prosecution simply by going into bankruptcy. you can get rid of debts, and

sometimes you can get rid of government debts when you file bankruptcy, but simply eliminating picking your own regulator is likely to invoke a judge's wrath. so the judge in texas hasn't really tipped his hand one way or the other, but some fairly powerful institutions have lined up against the n.r.a., including the u.s. trustee, with i is sort of a watchdog for the bankruptcy process. >> reporter: well, yeah, let's talk about that because, on the last day of the trial, yesterday, a department of justice lawyer surprises everyone by recommending this bankruptcy judge dismiss the bankruptcy filing or that a federal trustee should oversee the n.r.a.'s finances instead of current leaders. what impact could that recommendation have on the judge's final ruling? >> well, the ruling was unusual. u.s. trustees don't get that involved in some cases, but in this case, it seems the u.s. trustee is trying to protect the

process, the bankruptcy process itself. judges typically take the u.s. trustees very seriously because their job is to act as a watchdog over corporations in bankruptcy and make sure that the process of distributing money to creditors is done fairly. in this case, the u.s. trustee is saying there was no legitimate reason for the n.r.a. to file bankruptcy. that came down squarely on the side of the new york attorney general. >> reporter: so lapierre and his attorneys say this lawsuit that letitia james, the attorney general in new york, has filed is political, that whatever wrongdoing there was at the organization just doesn't rise to the level of having a federal overseer take over finances. you have been following this for months, stephen church. do you think the judge is inclined to see things that way? >> the judge was hard to read. there are some judges that tip their hands and sometimes they do that on purpose to get the people to compromise. in this case, judge hale, who is

nnickname is cooter, just didn't give a read one way or the other. he was very tight with control of the courtroom and repeatedly warned lapierre not to go off track. but in this case it's hard to tell which way he'll find because he has several really strong options, from throwing the n.r.a. out of bankruptcy, to appointing a trustee, to appoint ago new investigator to look at all of these issues and report back later. >> reporter: well, we know that judge harlan hale did say at the close of the trial that he may be making a decision as early as early next week and that it's one of the most important rules he's made in his career. stephen chur, a journalist who covers bankruptcies at bloomberg, thank you so much. >> thank you very much for having me. >> woodruff: nearly seven years

of war in yemen have produced the world's most-dire humanitarian catastrophe. millions are starving, not only without food to eat, but little in the way of medicacare for those most in need. special correspondent jane ferguson has spent years traveling in and out of the country. this time, she traveled between the rebel-held capital, sanaa, and the last government stronghold, marib. she witnessed the worst conditions yet. and a warning: some viewers may find images in this report upsetting. >> reporter: barely conscious, muraud okab silently fights to live beyond his 13 years. he had intestil surgery in this yemeni hospital three months ago. his recovery has been painful, and worryingly, slow. the surgery left him unable to eat normal food. his father mammed ali can rarely find the specialized nutrition he needs. and even if he could, he couldn't afford it. he is showing me the bill for

the surgery for his son. it's about $3000. they have given a reduction down to makit more like $2500. i ask him if he has the money. he doesn't have the money. mohammed ali was a carpenter before the war started six years ago and hasn't had a day of work since then. "every four days i pay this one," he tells us. every day for the treatment i pay this one, five dollars. this is just bill after bill after bill here. when muraud got sick he drove to yemen's capital, sana'a with him in his car, before selling it to try pay for the surgery. the only thing of any monetary value he owned, gladly sold to save the most priceless thing in his life.

but it wasn't enough. he's now deep in debt and with other children waiting for him back home. sabaeen hospital hosts sanaa's largest children's ward. it used to give free treatment to malnourished and sick children, the final hope for poor families. but in the last six months, funding from aid agencies like unicef has slowed to a trickle, and the hospital sply cannot afford to operate for free anymore. nishwa mahfout is a final year medicastudent, working here without salary and fighting to save a generation of babies. she watches parents walk out of here with sick and dying children every day. when you see a child leave this ward, how much faith do you have that they are going to survive long term? >> a lot of people when they go, when we trt them, they don't have the money enough or it's very expensive for them. they go and never return and they go to die in their homes, because they don't have the expense of the drugs or the hospital.

>> reporter: do you see that? people run out of money here and they have to leave? >> a lot, a lot. they are almost 90%. >> reporter: 90%? >> yes, because it's a local hospital, and the only people who get here are the poor, not only the poor, the poorest people get here, and they don't have the resources. even they don't have enough food for that day. and we ask them to buy drugs cost them a month. >> reporter: costs them a monthly income? >> yes, exactly. >> reporter: and so when they leave, do you ask them to stay? how do you react to people leaving when the baby is not well yet? >> i become very sad and asking by myself, asking ¡can i help them? how many can i help, if i help one i can't help all of them.'

>> reporter: as yemen's brutal war, and the humanitarian catastrophe it wrought, enters its seventh year, international aid is not close to keeping up with the vast needs here. the global covid crisis and economic austerity from donor countries has reduced pledges. yet, nowhere on earth are so many people going hungry. tens of thousands are already living with famine, the highest level of hunger in the united nation's official scale. never before in history have so many been on the level just below, with the aid agencies literally keeping five million of yemen's population of 30 million alive. >> in yemen two thirds, i repeat, two thirds of the population is food insecure somehow. >> reporter: laurent bukera is yemen country director for the u.n.'s world food program. >> we have almost half of the country just one step away from the highest classification possible of nger, and i think that's unprecedented, and for us

what is really frightening is as you know in other contexts, if one waits for famine to be declared it's actually too late and doing that with half of the population as close to the precipice is something we cannot do. >> reporter: in northern yemen houthi rebels are fighting the internationally recognized yemeni government, which is supported by saudi air power. the houthis are allied with and supported by iran, saudi arabia's regional rival. the saudis impose a partial blockade around rebel-held areas to try to deny the houthis vital income and weapons, but that has brought the economy to its knees, and starved civilians as well. most people in yemen live in rebel-held territory, where millions have been left destitute and unable to afford food. the houthis also have attempted to tax, regulate and control the

aid coming in, worsening the situation throughout 2020. >> so for us at the world food program from april 2020 we had to reduce our intervention and in the north we are unfortunately assisting every other month. so basically its not every month we provide assistance, it's every alternate month. >> reporter: relations between the world food program and the houthis have improved since. but other aid agencies say their work is hampered by constant demands from the rebels for security permits and endless paperwork. the houthi authorities in sana'a also restricted our movements, and we were carefully monitored as we worked. >> reporter: civilians on both sides of this war bear the cost of it. across the front lines, in marib province, tens of thsands of people who fled houthi advances now live in camps on the government side. this mobile clinic is funded by the u.n. and serves pregnant and breast-feeding women.

on a sparse diet few manage to breast feed at all, leaving babies stunted, unable to walk, and stalked by death. safia ahmed is 20 years old and couldn't breast feed her youngest baby. >> ( translated ): i got pregnant with this boy when this one was six months old. this boy is one year and eight months old now and he cannot walk or stand. >> reporter: the food offered is emergency soymeal and sugar for the women. the cutbacks in w.f.p. handouts are biting. each family gets flour, cooking oil, sugar and salt. if they have nothing else, they'll have to live on tea and bread. life is made up of long days spent waiting to go home. saleh mohammed doesn't have much faith in waiting any more. he built this small, cinderblock house in place of a tent a month ago. he's only three miles away from his home village, but with fighting raging there, it may as well be 1,000 miles.

he, like many others here, is watching what the united states can and will do in the recent push for peace here. >> ( translated ): we think the new president joe biden is much better than the last one towards yemen. he wants to stop the war in yemen, unlike the last one. we hope to be able to go back home but thousands of families have left their houses and they were destroyed because of the war. >> reporter: even the idea of rebuilding seems like a faraway dream in this place. at dusk the sun sets over the hills and is replaced by a full moon. the children play under it's light, as their parents rest in their tents, readying themselves for another day to come. one more day of surviving this war. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in sana'a, yemen.

>> woodruff: stacey abrams is the founder of the organization fair fight, and through her organization has dedicated the past few years to championing and expanding voting access throughout her home state of georgia earlier today abrams was honored at the national democratic institute's madeleine k. albright event celebrating women's empowerment. she spoke to amnnawaz about the challenges of maintaining a healthy democracy. >> i'd like to begin in texas with some news today where a number of corporations, huge corporations like hewlett packard, mike sort of and others are explicitly calling for expanded voting rights and voting access in response to republican proposals that would limit that access and we've seen similar efforts, of course, in georgia and other places. i'm curious about what you think it is right now about this moment in u.s. history that is pulling some of these companies off the sidelines and into the fight to protect voting rights. >> what we saw in january of 2021, the juxtaposition of the

election of raphael warnock and jon ossoff, the first black senator from georgia, the first jewish senator of georgia eclipsed hours later by sedition seditionists who stormed the capitol and murdered capitol law enforcement officers, this inresurrection has taken a part in our state. eth not a question of which party is electing their leaders, it's a question of citizenship, who has a right to be heard in our nation, and while we unfortunately had silence during much of the debate here in fa, i believe the amplification of that issue and the ability to point out the direct connection, the dna between denying access to the right to vote and the changing of outcomes for the most vulnerable communities is why we're here and corporations speak out more forcefully and precipitously. what's happening in texas is important because what it

signals is we are no longer viewing voting rights as a citizenship. it's dictated not by people who have the easiest time voting but how hard we are willing to work to make sure no one has difficulty casting a ballot. >> reporter: hundreds of new laws restricting access have been introduced across the country. what do you think the impact could be specifically with reference to the medical the tom elections. >> as a partisan, i am concerned about whether my party which tends to be overrepresentative of communities overcolor, of communities that are disadvantaged and marginalized, that the party to which i pledge allegiance or at least i have given my loyalty to that the party could lose. but i want us to return to the fundamentals of voting. in a nation like the u.s. with

changing demock phi, if response to increased participation by communities of color, young people and women, if the response is to restrict access and impede participation, that is a very very strong signal that we are heading in the wrong direction and our democracy is not safe, it is not sound and it is not resilient. we have to be better than that. >> reporter: well, let me ask you about how the efforts could be brought? to protect those voting rights then because we see these are largely republican-led efforts to restrict that voting access. do you believe democra are doing everything they can, using ery tool in the toolkit to protect that voting access? >> i think on the state level you are seeing so many people come together to fight against these bills. that's one of the reasons it is a popular topic of conversation. it's because we've made it a necessary part of dinner conversation that this is no longer an annoyance that happens andties appears on election day but that this is about the fundamentals of how our democracy works, but i also know

that we require federal legislation. article 1 section 4 of the elections clause in the u.s. constitution delegates to the states the right to administer elections, but it reserves to congress the ability to set baselines and foundations, and, so, we need to pass the for the people act, the john lewis voting rights advancements act. i am pleads the senate seems to be making progress and there is conversation. this is going to take time. >> reporter: let me ask you this about the bill, as it sits with the senate, majority leader chuck schumer says it probably has an august deadline, do you believe advancing a sweeping voting rights bill should be the priority for this administration, for this rpt for his next 100 days. >> i think it is absolutely a center piece of his initiatives. i would not, however, say we can afford to abandon the importance of fighting for the american jobs act, fighting for the american family act, in part

because the reason we vote -- and i want to be very clear about this -- we vote not because of the act of casting a ballot, we vote for the policies that follow after, for the ways that our government helps make our lives if not easier, then at least improves our access to increasing our opportunity. and, so, the absolute result of what we saw happen in 2020 and 2021 are the bills that we see moving. those priority bills that the president and his cabinet are speaking about all o over this country. but, at the exact same time, we must protect the very mechanism that makes those policies possible and that is the passage for the people act, particularly the voting rights component. >> reporter: stacey abrams, thank you for this conversation and congratulations again on the honor. >> thank you so much, amna.

>> woodruff: the pandemic is transforming all of our lives, from how we gather to how we work. the u.s. supreme court is no different. the justices dialed in to hear their final oral argument of the term today, which was about sentencing reductions for low- level crack cocaine offenses. their final call also falls on the one-year anniversary of the court's very first remote oral argument. john yang reports on the big adjustment. >> oyez oyez oyez. >> yang: few institutions are as tradition-laden as the supreme court, but the pandemic has created a lot of changes. >> god save the united states and this honorable court. (gavel pounds) >> yang: for a year, the high- ceilinged marble courtroom has been empty; all oral arguments conducted by telephone conference call. >> it's hard to know when to

stop speaking, when to stop answering your question. >> yang: former acting solicitor general neal katyal says the three cases he's argued over the phone have been a little different from the previous 41 in-person. >> i think one of the skills, you know, that you learn over time is you really learn body language down to, you know, where their finger is put on their cheek or something like that. now, of course, we have no vision at all. it is just oral and audio. in real life, or even on skype, i can at least look at you and see, are you zoning out? do you look satisfied with my answer? on the phone, it's impossible. we don't get that just very simple level of feedback. >> justice thomas. >> there's no reason to -- there's no reason to say -- >> just -- >> that simply because -- >> justice -- >> i apologize. >> yeah. >> i apologize, your honor. >> justice thomas. >> yang: and with chief justice john roberts playing timekeeper... >> so you really can't tie -- >> so, justice alito? >> yang: ...oral arguments are more formal question-and-answer than free-flowing discussion. with the time now, each justice

getting a set amount of time discrete from the others, does that make a difference? >> it makes a huge difference. i mean, one of the unique things about the supreme court is that the justices may not have even talked to each other about the case at all before the oral argument. so sometimes the questions, both pre coronavirus and during coronavirus, are as much statements to one of their colleagues as they are questions to the advocate. >> yang: over the centuries, oral arguments have changed drastically. >> in the first decades, the justices heard cases cold, which meant that they hadn't read any briefs. >> yang: historian clare cushman of the supreme court historical society: >> the attorneys took advantage of the situation of having unlimited time and they would argue for five hours at a stretch, sometimes more than a week. >> yang: even as written briefs were required and time limitations put in place, the event was capitol hill's own matinee: >> it was kind of the greatest

show in town in the, in the second half of the 19th century, you had society women who would wear their fancy bonnets with plumes, and the advocates strayed very far from the merits of the case. they were stem winders with allusions to the bible and roman law and shakespeare. >> yang: justice stephen bryer told a university of arizona law journal that one downside of the new format is that “there rarely is a light moment,” though he unintentionally supplied one last year while hearing a case about robocalls. >> thank you, i'm sorry, the telephone started to ring, and it cut me off the call. and i don't think it was a robocall. >> yang: and early on, justice sonia sotomayor struggled with the unmute function. >> justice sotomayor? >> i'm sorry, chief. did it again. >> yang: and last may, a sound never before heard in a supreme court argument.

(swoosh) the court recommends that attorneys call in on a landline, even suggesting a specific model of speakerphone. the rest is up to the lawyers. supreme court veteran neal katyal: >> i don't have to wear a suit. i do. i wear the exact same suit to every single supreme court argument from my first one to now my 44th one. >> yang: while the lawyers perform in private, art lien, longtime sketch artist for nbc news and scotusblog, does his best to capture them. since october, he's been producing sketches from photos they provide. >> i'm used to a lawyer at the lectern in a suit. it's the same old thing and i've been doing it since the '70s, late '70s. to have a lawyer send me a photograph of themselves in a hoodie, you know, arguing is kind of refreshing. >> yang: do you have any favorites of sketches you've done since october? >> there was a law professor and

he's the only one that was actually holding an old fashioned landline phone up to his ear. this attorney set up photographs of the nine justices in a moot court. and you know the masks. >> yang: this isn't the first time the court has had to adjust for a public health crisis: oral arguments were postponed in 1793 and 1798 because of yellow fever outbreaks. and again in 1918, due to the spanish flu epidemic. in 2001, anthrax discovered in the court's mailroom made a d.c. federal courthouse the supreme court's temporary home. and with the telephone arguments available to the public, live, katyal says it's time for the justices to shatter another tradition. >> it's just an illustration of the fact that i think the supreme court has to move to live televised arguments. at the end of the day, the supreme court is deciding some of the most momentous issues

facing america in the world. and it's our court. it's the people's court. and i think it's inspiring for all americans to see it operate in action, particularly at a time when there's so much divisiveness in the country. >> yang: there's no indication the court will drop its long- standing opposition to television coverage. for now, with all the justices fully vaccinated, most have even begun meeting in person again. but they won't return to the courtroom for oral arguments until at least this fall. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: a year and a half after the killing of breonna taylor at the hands of police, no one has been charged in her death. now her life, death, and the larger questions they raise about america today are being explored in a new exhibition in

her hometown. jeffrey brown has the story for our ongoing arts and culture series, canvas. >> brown: a large portrait of a young woman in a turquoise dress. hand on hip, eyes ahead, strong and confident. but this was painted posthumously; an image to force america to remember a life and say her name: breonna taylor. >> family and friends are remembering breonna taylor. >> brown: the 26 year old medical worker was shot and killed in march 2020 by uisville, kentucky police officers in a late-night raid on her apartment. >> say her name! >> breonna taylor! >> brown: since then, her name has been chanted during protests worldwide. her image has come to represent black lives taken without accountability or justice. now, a portrait by artist amy sherald, originally made for the cover of "vanity fair" magazine is the centerpiece of an exhibition at louisville's speed

art museum, an unusual in-the- moment response by a cultural institution to its city's grief. toya northington oversaw the museum's community outreach. >> we were in a time where we would come in right from protests. race relations weren't great in the city, right. it's still very tense, still very divided. and so it's one thing to say,¡ hi, we have some memberships', right? but it's another to say,¡ listen, we're going to take on this subject matter that means so much to so many people and we're going to do this justice. we need you to join us on that.' >> brown: most important of all, that meant including breonna taylor's mother, tamika palmer, from the beginning. allison glenn, of the crystal bridges museum in arkansas, served as guest curator of this exhibition. what was important for you to get from her, to help you in understanding how to go forward? >> it was so important to get her trust more than anything. this is her daughter and the story about her daughter within the context of an exhibition, which is the field that i work within, the field of contemporary art, museum work,

and stepping into the space of telling a story that is focused on a portrait that was painted of her daughter it was extremely important to gain her trust. everything else would follow, but that was the most important thing. >> brown: tamika palmer provided a wall text about the night her world was shattered, and a meline of her daughter's life. she also offered a template: three words that became the exhibition's title: “promise, witness, remembrance.” curator glenn gathered works: a 2018 sculpture titled“ unarmed” by nick cave. a brand-w print by maria magdalena campos-pons, called“ butterfly eyes, for breonna taylor." a 1969 draped painting by the renowned, louisville-born artist, sam gilliam, “carousel form 2.” the “promise” section reflected the use and abuse of national ideals: in bethany collins' “the star spangled banner: a hymnal”"

and nari ward's “we the people”" made from colored shoelaces. >> i feel like this work has such, it echoes and reverberates, because the questions you can ask are: who are the people? who's ¡we'? >> brown: “witness” features recent images by louisville photographers documenting the demonstrations in the city, and noel anderson's blurred an“" erased” women from the pages of ebony magazine. part of “remembrance”: a video by jon-sesrie goff about the 2016 mass shooting at emanuel church in charleston, titled: “a site of reckoning: battlefield” >> so much about curatorial work is about bringing people in. so when you walk into the space of the galleries, i'm telling you a story. i have a narrative that i'm trying to articulate through artworks. >> brown: and what was the story you wanted to tell? >> the story i wanted to tell was really based on the conversation i had with tamika palmer about what the exhibition could do, you know, looking at

perhaps the promise of a nation and also then witnessing this moment and looking at how artists help us understand the contemporary moment. >> brown: the museum created local and national advisory panels to guide it. it also extended evening hours and waived the usual $20 admission fee. unusual steps; but these are unusual times for museums as well, as they face questions of their own inclusivity and responsibility to serve a broader, more diverse community. i asked toya worthington if this exhibition might serve as a model for others. >> it can only be a model if people commit to the work. and sometimes that's just one conversation at a time, really listening, hearing peoe's concerns, hearing people's dreams and saying, well, how can we get close to that? >> brown: and you're trying to connect to people that perhaps don't have much relationship to the museum, right? >> yes, and that's the point. why do an exhibition that reaches so far and connects to so many people if we weren't going to bring the parts of the

community that could benefit the most? and really what's happened with this exhibition is that it's been this great affirming space. it's heavy and it's reflective and it's emotional. but at the same time, when people come in from the community, they see themselves, or they see a piece of their experience. and so i didn't want that to be reserved for the art community, the art world community, the usual people that like to come to these exhibitions. i wanted it to be for everybody. >> brown: the centerpiece, the portrait of breonna taylor, is in the process of being jointly acquired by the speed museum and the national museum of african- american history and culture in washington, ensuring it will reach a wide audience for many years to come. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown.

>> woodruff: finally tonight, remembering the career of dancer jacques d'amboise. his work with the new york city ballet, on film, and in the public schools brought dance to new heights. he died sunday at his home in manhattan following complications from a stroke. jeffrey brown is back with a look at his legacy. >> brown: he called himself a new yorker with a fancy french name, but jacques d'amboise was first and foremost a legend in the world of dance. best known as a principal dancer with the new york city ballet, appearing for decades on stages around the world. he also appeared in several hollywood films including: the 1954 musical, “seven brides for seven brothers”. here, wearing a red shirt, acrobatically dancing on a log. for him it began as a seven year old placed in ballet by his mother as a way, he said, to keep him out of trouble. >> i always thought i would

either be a doctor, or an archaeologist, or a crook, a really good crook. >> brown: years later, he would dedicate himself to working with young people to bring them into dance. we talked in 2015 at the harlem- based national dance institute he created for public school children in new york city. >> if you think back, why are you doing what you're doing, it's those early influences, your teachers especially, and your parents, that kind of write the scripts that you end up acting out the rest of your life. >> brown: throughout the years, the institute has brought free dance lessons to the classroom, uplifting and inspiring thousands of young students from all backgrounds and dance capabilities. >> children will play until they drop, right? ask them to put out the garbage, i'm too tired, mommy. i'm too tired. but if you say, can you put out the garbage walking backward and then hop on one leg, or singin“" the star-spangled banner,” make

play and testing part of the game, and people will kill themselves to be able to do it. >> brown: d'amboise's joy in providing a dance education carries on at the national dance institute today. >> brown: jacques d'amboise was 86 years old. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and an update before we go: former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin is appealing for a new trial, just two weeks after being found guilty in the killing of george floyd. in a motion filed today, his attorney claimed the jury committed misconduct and that the trial was affected by pre- trial publicity among other things. chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter. and tonight on the pbs newshour

online, as a covid-19 surge continues in india, there are a number of ways you can join the global community trying to help. read more on our website, that's pbs.org/newshour. we close with exciting news to report-- today, our yamiche alcindor was named the new host of "washington week." it is a role once held by our late friend, gwen ifill. don't worry; yamiche will still report for us from the white house, and will continue the legacy of bringing insight into the politics of our times, every friday night. congratulations, yamiche. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in educatn, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and curity. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by

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