to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com judy: 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 the community level, 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 one step away from the highest classification possible

of hunger. if one waits for famine to be declared, it's actually too late. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> caregiver. eclipse chipper. taylor's advice to help you live. life well planned. >> consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our customer service team can help find the plan that fits you. to learn more visit consumer cellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway.

♪ >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities . more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. stephanie: we will return to the

rest of the program after these headlines. former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin is appealing for a new trial just two weeks after being found guilty of murder in the death 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 issues. chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter. 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 away from states where many people don't want them. president biden said today that he wants 70% of u.s. adults to have at least one shot by july 4. >> 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 4, but no one should wait.

let's try to hit that 70% mark at least with one shot before that day. stephanie: to date, about 56% of adults in the u.s. have gotten at least one shot. judy will discuss vaccinations with dr. vivek murthy -- the u.s. surgeon general -- after the news summary. in california today, the population centers of los angeles county and san francisco both met state guidelines for the least restrictive tier for reopening. starting thursday, restaurants in those cities can double capacity to 50%. the golden state now has the lowest infection rate in the country. india officially reached 20 million covid infections today. that's second only to the u.s. and nearly twice what it was in india three months ago. confirmed deaths in india have now 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. mexico city's mayor vowed to get answers. >> 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. stephanie: the mexico city metro system is one of the busiest in the world. the mexico city metro has had at least three major accidents since 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, the taliban barred girls and women from schools and jobs, and inflicted public beatings. back in this country, intense storms are pummeling large swaths of the south, causing hail and flash flood's. the nation's average temperature is now one degree warmer than 20 years ago. that newly released data from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration underscores climate change concerns. it also shows the eastern and central 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 2%. the s&p 500 slipped 28. after the markets closed yellen clarified she was not predicting or recommending rates go up. still to come on "the newshour," the nra 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. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: president biden's remarks today signaled somewhat of a shift about vaccine distrition, 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. welcome back to "the newshour." let me ask about appears to be shift in emphasis away from mass vaccination sites to get more individualized approach to reach as many people as possible. how much concern is there that there is resistance to getting the vaccine? dr. murthy: good to see you today. this is a really important topic, which is how do we move forward in this next phase of the vaccination. each phase of this campaign has had its own challenges, but right now but we have to do is, number one, make sure that people who have questions get answers from trusted sources.

two, people who are wondering if it is important to get vaccinated recognize that it is. and the third is we had to create more access points for people. that has already been underway for the last few months. what you are seeing is the next phase of that, moving towards a smaller community vaccination centers, more mobile units, mandating pharmacies to move from the employment-based system to a walk in system so people can get vaccines on their schedule. all of these steps are aimed towards increasing access to the vaccine. and i should note that the primary care pathway, we are increasingly working to get them into doctors offices and rural health clinics, as well as funds to support outreach. if these snd like many strategies, they are, because that is what is required at this point. we have to have many pathways

and many messengers and many doors through which one can get vaccinated. judy: i am curious about how difficult you think it will be. the president set that goal of 70% of american adults by july 4. you are already at more than half of american adults. how difficult will it be. dr. murthy: this next goal will require us to administer 100 million shots in the next 60 days. that is very different from the first 100 million shots. these will be more challenging in some ways. but that is really important we pull out all the stops to reaching this goal. it is why you are seeing multiple strategies laid out here. judy: the new york times reporting yesterday, quoting some high-level officials saying this concept of herd immunity is no longer something worth focusing on because it is now known that a significant percentage of americans, 23%, say they don't want to the vaccine at all. it now appears there is a belief

that covid will be there in the background for a long time to come and americans are just going to have to live with it. dr. murthy: it is a very interesting point, because i find the discussion around herd immunity cannot be as helpful as we want it to be. the real focus should be on how we reduce infections, hospitalizations and deaths. the data is very clear the way we do that to get more people vaccinated. thinking about a magic number we need to hit, 75%, 80%, is really hard to do and iist misleading because it conveys this idea of a switch that is flipped and until we reach that threshold, nothing gets better. but then when we reach the threshold, the virus goes away. but the reality is we have to vaccinate as many people as we can. as we do that, we will see life get better. we will see infections reduced and we can get back to our way of life. judy: i want to ask you about the rest of the world.

the u.s. has been very fortunate. 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. ion -- in india, this terrible humanitarian disaster. in so many countries just a fraction of the percent of their population have received the 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? dr. murthy: i'm glad you asked. our fate as a country is inextricably linked to the rest of the world. and we know that for so many reasons. one is because we have learned time and time again, whether it was during ebola, zika, now covid, an infection in one country can rapidly come to another. the second reason it is so important is when there is uncontrolled spread of the virus

that new variants can develop and then they can travel here. we must do more and we will do more. you've already seen steps taken from the u.s. investing in covax and help build the foundation for supplying the rest of the world with the vaccine. we also saw with astrazeneca that the u.s. announced it will give the doses it has right now, approximately 10 million doses, as soon as they are cleared by the fda. an additional 50 million of astrazeneca will likely come in may and june. ultimately we have to intend to get to a common and critical and point, which is to make sure the world has access to an adequate custody of low-cost vaccine so 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 a long-term and we have an obligation to look out for the rest of the world as well. judy: but i am asking specifically, because as you know, this is life or death, everyday lives are being lost. and astrazeneca has been approved in other parts of the world. there is also this question about sharing patents with other countries. the sense is that it is taking longer than it should to make these decisions here in the united states. dr. murthy: with the astrazeneca vaccine, again, as soon as that batch is cleared by the fda here, that can then move out to the rest of the world to be shared. but it's not the case we have vaccine fully produced and cleared by the fda that can be used today by astrazeneca. otherwise those doses would be out. you will see the 50 additional doses in may and june follow. but in order to produce the vaccine the rest of the world needs, there are several things we need to work to put into place. we need to build and help support the manufacturing capacity. we need to ensure raw materials are there and an adequate

supply. we need to make short technology transfer happens from private companies to facilities and other countries so they can produce for now and later. those are steps that absolutely you -- the u.s. has been engaged with and is working as quickly as possible to move that forward. we recognize what is at stake, which is our fate, the fate of the world, and millions of people who are infected right now. judy: and finally, we know that 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? dr. murthy: i have lost seven family members to covid but i know many others that have lost family members too. all of us, whatever our walks of life may be, have been affected in some way by this virus.

maybe we had family members or friends who were hospitalized. maybe our kids had their education interrupted. my kids constantly ask when they can go back to see their friends in the grandparents again. these are the questions that affect all of us and it has affected all of our lives. for me, it has made this a very personal mission. addressing covid-19, doing so from this role in government is not an opportunity, it is not a role i ever thought i would have, but it is one i feel called to serve in. like many people in this country, i want to do everything i can to turn this pandemic around. the way we get there is not through individuals alone making a decision about getting vaccinated, we have to do that, but we also have to go one step beyond and recognize we now all have a responsibility to do what we can for as many people around us as possible. and i hope we all step up and do this for our communities. we will not only turn this

pandemic allow -- around, but we will leave our communities stronger and more resilient than before this pandemic even began. judy: doctor, again, we're so sorry for the losses in your family. thank you very much for joining us. dr. murthy: thank you, judy. take care. judy: the epidemic of shootings in the u.s. and the rising number of high-profile mass shootings recently are adding more fuel to a call for stronger action on gun violence, access to weapons, and some limitations. in these debates, people often point to the long reach and influence of the nra. but what many people may not realize is the leadership of the nra itself has been on trial the past several weeks for the way it conducts business. stephanie sy has the latest. stephanie: 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 nra 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 nra 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 nra says the lawsuit is political. stephen church has been covering the trial for bloomberg and joins me now. thank you for coming on the newshour. i know you are a bankruptcy specialist but i want to backtrack a little bit because wayne la pierre actually testified during this trial. what came out about how he managed the nra and used his

position? stephen: it was clear he had control over most everything that happened at the nra. that was one of the major points the new york attorney geral is trying to bring out. there were also some lapses in financial controls, the kinds of things he would see at private companies or at well-run nonprofits. stephanie: so what does the nra bankruptcy filing have to do with the charges against la pierre in new york? was essentially filing for bankruptcy in gun-friendly texas a way to escape accountability in new york? stephen: that is precisely with the argument was on the side of the new york attorney general and their allies were arguing with them. the nra is making a claim that even thougthey 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 in new york, if they

side with the new york attorney general, could dissolve the nra and all their assets, which amount to tens of millions of dollars. it could be given away to other similar types of nonprofits. so they argue because that is a threat and a possibility, they should be allowed to file bankruptcy, even though they have plenty of cash, they are solvent, they are paying their bills on time, and it does not look like they face in the immediate threats. stephanie: we have seen organizations do that before, but is that an appropriate use of bankruptcy filings? stephen: it is arguably a misuse. it is a misuse in this way. you cannot escape from a government regulation or from a government prosecution simply by going into bankruptcy. you can get rid of debts. sometimes you can get rid of government debts when you file bankruptcy. but simply picking your own regulator is likely to invoke a judge's wrath.

the judge in texas has not tipped his hand one way or another, but some fairly powerful institutions have lined up against the nra, including the u.s. trustee, which is a watchdog for the bankruptcy process. stephanie: let's talk about that because on the last day of the trial yesterday, a department of justice lawyer surprises everyone by recommending that this bankruptcy judge dismiss the bankruptcy filing, or that a federal trustee should oversee the nra's finances instead of current leaders. what impact could that recommendation have on the judge's ruling? stephen: it really was unusual. u.s. trustees do not get that involved in some cases. but in this case it seems the u.s. trustees tried to protect 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 to make sure that the process of distributing money to creditors is done fairly.

in this case the u.s. trustees are saying there was no legitimate reason for the nfl -- for the nra to file this way. that came down squarely on the side of the new york attorney general. stephanie: la pierre and his attorneys say this lawsuit is potical, that whatever wrongdoing there was at the organization doesn't rise to the level of having a federal overseer take over finances. you have been following this for months. do you think the judge is inclined to see things that way? stephen: the judge was hard to read. there are some judges who tip eir hands on purpose to get people to compromise. in this case, the judge just did not give anybody a read one way or another. he was very tight with the control of the court room and repeatedly warned la pierre not to go off track. but in this case it is hard to tell which way you will find,

because he has several really strong options. from throwing the nra out of bankruptcy, to appointing a trustee, to appointing a new investigator to look at all these issues and report back later. stephanie: will we know that the judge did say at the close of the trial that he may be making a decision as early as early next week, and that is one of the most important rulings he has made in his career. stephen church, a journalist who covers bankruptcies at bloomberg. thank you so much. stephen: thank you very much for having me. judy: 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 medical care 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. jane: barely conscious, muraud okab silently fights to live beyond his 13 years. he had intestinal 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 mohammed ali can rarely find the specialized nutrition he needs. and even if he could, he can'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 make it more like maybe $2500.

but he says 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. this is just bill after bill after bill here. we first reported on his condition back in march. it is clear he is not improving. when muraud got sick, he drove to yemen's capital, sana, 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 simply cannot afford to operate for free anymore. nishwa mahfout is a final year medical student, 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 treat 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. jane: do you see that? people run out of money here and they have to leave? >> a lot, a lot. they are almost 90%. jane: 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 costing them a month. jane: costs them a monthly income? >> yes. exactly. jane: 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. jane: 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, actually, two thirds, i repeat, two thirds of the population is food insecure somehow. jane: laurent bukera is yemen country director for the un's world food program. >> we have almost half of the country which is one step away from the highest classification possible of hunger, and i think that's unprecedented. and for us, what is real frightenous 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 as can be to the

precipice is something we cannot do. jane: 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 it's not every month that we provide assistance, we provide it every alternate month. jane: relations between the world food program and the houthis have improved since. but her aid agencies say their work is hamperedy 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. civilians on both sides of this war bear the cost of it. across the front lines, in marib province, tens of thousands 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. >> 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. jane: the food offered is emergency soymeal and sugar for the women. >> they take it for the first six months of breast-feeding a baby. jane: the cut backs in wfp 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, cinder-block 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 1000 miles. he, like many others here, is watching what the united states can and will do in the recent push for peace >> 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. jane: 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 its light, as their parents rest in their tents, readying themlves for another day to come, one more day of surviving this war. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in sana'a, yemen. judy: now to the growing fight over voting access. georgia ist the center of the conflict, and stacey abrams is a driving force behind change there. earlier today, abrams was honored at the national democratic institute's madeleine

k. albright event celebrating women's empowerment. she spoke with our amna nawaz about the challenges of maintaining a healthy democracy. amna: i would like to begin in texas where a number of huge corporations like hewlett-packard and microsoft and others are explicitly calling for expanded voting rights and voting access in response to republican proposals that would limit that excess. we have seen similar efforts of course in georgia and other places. i am curious what you think it is about this moment in u.s. history that is pulling some of these companies off the sidelines and into the fight to protect voter rights? stacey: what we saw in january of 2021, the juxtaposition of the election of the first black senator from juran or -- from georgia and jewish senator from georgia, eclipsed hours later by sedition us who stormed the capital and murdered law enforcement officers. this insurrection has now taken

root in our states. and this is no longer a question of partisanship. it is not a question of which party is electing their leaders. it is a question of citizenship. who has the right to be heard in our nation. and while we unfortunately had silenced during much of the debate here in georgia, 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 are the most vulnerable communities is why we are hearing corporations speak out more forcefully and precipitously. what is happening in texas is important because what it signals is that we are no longer viewing voting rights as simply a question of partisanship. we are seeing is a question of people ship. the quality of our democracy is dictated not the people who have the easiest time voting but how hard we are willing to work to make certain no one has a difficult time passing about. amna: we know -- time casting

about -- casting a ballot. amna: what do you think the impact of these laws could be when you look ahead specifically to the midterm elections? are you concerned democrats could lose control of the house and senate? stacey: yes. as a partisan i am concerned about whether my party, which tends to be over representative of communities of color and communities that are disadvantaged and marginalized. that the party to which i pledge allegiance, or at least which i have given my fealty, that the party could lose. but i honestly want us to return to the fundamentals of voting. in a nation like the u.s. with its changing democracy, if the response to increased participation by communities of color, by young people, by women, if the response is to restrict their access, that is a very strong signal that we are heading in the wrong direction and that our democracy is not

safe, it is not sound, and it is not resilient. we have to be better than that. amna: let me ask you about how the efforts could be broadened to protect those voting rights. because we see these are largely republican-led efforts. do you believe democrats are right now doing everything they can, using every tool in the toolkit to protect that voting access? stacey: i think on the state level you are seeing so many people come together to fight against these bills. that is one of the reasons it is a popular topic of conversation. it is because we have made it a necessary part of the conversation, that this is not any longer and annoyance that happens and disappears on election day but this is about the fundamentals of how our democracy works. i also know we require federal budget station. article one selection four in the u.s. constitution delegates to the states the right to administer elections. it reserves to congress the ability to set baselines and foundations.

so we need to cast -- past before the people act in the john lewis voting rights act. i am pleased the senate seems to be making progress, that there is conversation. this will take time. amna: as the bill sits with the senate we know the majority leader chuck schumer has said it probably has an august deadline. you believe advancing that sweeping voting rights bill should be the priority for this administration and this president, for his next 100 days? stacey: i think it is absolutely a centerpiece of his initiatives. however, i would not say that 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 -- i want to be clear about this. we vote not just because of the act of casting a ballot, w vote for the policies that follow after, for the ways our government helps make our lives if not easier, then at least

improving our access to increasing our opportunity. and so the absolute result of what we saw happen in 2020 and 2021 are the bills we see moving, those priority bills that the president and his cabinet are speaking about all over this country. at the exact name time -- same time you must protect the mechanism that makes these policies possible and that is the passage of the for the people act, particularly the voting rights component. amna: stacey abrams come i thank you very much for your time and congratulations again on the honor. stacey: thank you so much. judy: 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. john: 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. john: 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. john: former acting solicitor general neal katyal says the three cases he's argued over the phone have been a little different from the pvious 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. i apologize, your honor. john: and with chief justice john roberts playing timekeeper. >> so you really can't tie -- >> so, justice alito? john: 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. john: 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. john: 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 fiveours at a stretch, sometimes more than a week. john: 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 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. john: 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. john:nd early on, justice sonia sotomayor struggled with the unmute function. >> justice sotomayor? >> i'm sorry, chief. did it again. john: and last may, a sound never before heard in a supreme court argument. [flush] 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. john: 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 1970's, late 1970's. to have a lawyer send me a photograph of themselves in a hoodie, you know, arguing, is kind of refreshing. john: 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.

john: 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 anther 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. john: 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. judy: 1.5 years after the killing of breonna taylor at the hands of police, no one has been charged in her death. noher 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. jeffrey: 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 d friends are remembering breonna taylor. jeffrey: the 26-year-old medical worker was shot and killed in march 2020 by louisville, kentucky police officers in a late-night raid on her apartment. 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 coming right from protests. race relations were not great in the city.

it's still very tense, still very divided. and so it's one thing to say, hi, we have some memberships, right? 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. jeffrey: 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? >> it was somportant 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. jeffrey: tamika palmer provided

a wall text about the night her world was shattered, and a timeline of her daughter's life. she also offered through words that became the exhibition's title -- promise, witness, remembrance. curator glenn gathered works. a 2018 sculpture titled "unarmed" by nick cave. a brand-new 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 echoes and reverberates, because the

questions you can ask our who are the people? who is we? jeffrey: witness features recent images by louisville photographers documenting the demonstrations in the city and noel anderson's blurred and erased women from the pages of ebony magazine. part of the remembrance section, 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. jeffrey: 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 looking at how artists help us understand the contemporary moment. jeffrey: 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 tohe work. and sometimes that's just one conversation at a time, really listening, hearing people's concerns, hearing people's dreams and saying, well, how can we get closest to that? jeffrey: and you're trying to connect to people that perhaps don't have much relationship to the museum, right? >> 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 is heavy, the content is 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. jeffrey: 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. judy: now, remembering the career of dancer jacques. his work with the new york city ballet, on film and in 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. jeffrey: he called himself a new yorker with a fancy french name, but he 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, "7 brides for 7 brothers." here, wearing a red shirt, acrobatically dancing on a log. for him it began as a 7-year-old placed in ballet by his mother as a way, he said, to keep him out of trouble. >> i always thoughi would either be a doctor, or an archaeologist, or a crook, a really good crook. jeffrey: years later, he would dedicate himself to working with young people tbring them into dance.

we talked in 2015 at the harlem-based national dance institute he created for public school children in new york city. >>f 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. jeffrey: 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 singing the star-spangled banner, make play and testing part of the game, and people will kill themselves to be able to do it. jeffrey: d'amboise's joy in providing a dance education carries on at the national dance institute today.

>> it can't be too long. switch near the end. jeffrey: jacques d'amboise was 86 years old. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. judy: as a covid-19 surge continues in india there are number of ways you can join the global community trying to help. read more on our website. that is pbs.org/newshour we close with exciting news to report. today, the newoderator was named of pbs's washington week. a role once held by our late friend gwen. sh will still report from us from the white house and will continue her legacy of bringing insight into the politics of our times every friday night. congratulations, yamiche. that is the newshour for tonight.

i am judy woodruff. join us again online and torrow evening. for all of us, thank you, please stay safe, and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. ♪ >> sumer cellular. -- consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bnsf railway. carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed to advancing racial equity and creating the cnge required to shift systems and accelerate equitable canonic opportunity. -- economic opportunity. 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 performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is "pbs newshour" west.

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