♪ judy: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the news hour tonight, the conflict continues. ukrainians begin to rebuild parts of their battered country as russian forces focus on the east while first lady jill biden begins a four-day visit to nations on the edge of the war zone. then, speaking out -- former secretary of state hillary clinton discusses what the ukraine war means for vladimir putin and warns of major setbacks if the u.s. supreme court overturns roe v. wade. secretary clinton: as horrible assault as this is on women's rights, it is perhaps only the beginning of this court trying to undo so much of the progress of the last 50 years. judy: and it's friday.

david brooks and karen tell multi way and on the latest developments from the supreme court and what early primary results could mean for this year's midterms. all that i more on pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the landscape has changed. and not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce by embracing innovation, looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again for whatever happens next. >> people who know know bdo.

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judy: the april jobs report is out and it shows hiring is still going strong. the u.s. labor department says the economy scored a net gain of 428,000 jobs for the month. that means employers have added more than four hundred thousand jobs for 12 months in a row. the unemployment rate for april held steady at 3.6% near the lowest level in 50 years. economists today said the report is positive, but some warned that inflation and rising interest rates may yet take a toll. >> the downside is that today's jobs numbers don't reflect a lot of the uncertainty going forward so the federal reserve continues to raise interest rates. the impact of those rising rates is yet to be reflected in today's jobs report. judy: jobs numbers did little to improve the mood on wall street after sliding further. the dow jones industrial average

ended down another 98 points to close below 32,900. the nasdaq fell 173 points, nearly 1.5%. the s&p 500 was down 23. the nasdaq and the s&p have fallen for five straight weeks, the most in more than 10 years. republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene will be allowed to seek reelection in georgia. a state judge rejected aid to disqualify her on the ounds that she played a significant role in the january 6 riot at the u.s. capitol. the georgia secretary of state then accepted the finding. in the middle east, israeli security carried out a sweeping manhunt for two palestinians suspected of killing 3 israelis and wounding 4 last night near tel aviv. witnesses and emergency workers said the attackers used axes. hundreds of mourners turned out today at funerals for 2 of the victims.

the attack was part of the worst wave of violence inside israel, in years. the irish nationalist “sinn fein” party is poised tonight to win elections for a new assembly in northern ireland. it's the former political wing of the "irish republican army", and its victory in today's voting would end years of domination by pro-british protestants. "sinn fein" favors reuniting with ireland, but any such move is likely years away. and, back in this country -- just ahead of "mother's day." the u.s. census bureau reports the median age of women giving birth has risen to 30 -- the highest on record. that comes as birth rates have declined for women in their 20's over the past 3 decades. at the same time, rates have risen for those in their late 30's and early 40's. still to come on the news hour, hillary clinton peak doubt and

the supreme crt expected decision to overturn roe v. wade. we examine the history of abortion rights and access in the united states. david brooks and karen tumulty consider political news. and much more. >> from the west, the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: first lady jill biden arrived in romania today, the first stop of her tour of eastern europe. as the war in ukraine grinds on, she visited u.s. and nato troops deployed in the region and will meet with ukrainian refugees this weekend. ten weeks into the devastating conflict, fierce battles rage in ukraine's northeast, where ukrainian forces have gone on the offensive as russia continues its slow but pounding push toward the donbas. in mariupol, a third effort to

evacuate civilians from a besieged steel plant was underway tod, even as russian forces continued to storm it. and in a virtual address to the policy institute, chatham house, in london, president volodymyr zelenskyy said a peace deal may still be possible if russian troops retreat. >> they have back beyond the contact lines and they should withdraw the troops. and we will be able to start discussing despite the fact that they have destroyed all of our bridges. i don't think all the bridges are destroyed. judy: one of the deadliest sieges for the battle of kyiv was in the city chernihiv, north

of the capital. ukrainian forces stopped russia from advancing south. but russian troops left a trail of destruction. nick schifrin visited a nearby village, and reports on the aftermath of that fight, and signs of renewal. >> she and her husband built this house 28 years ago. municipal workers must rebuild the life the russians destroyed. the damage is apocalyptic. it was bombarded as if it was hit by a hurricane. in the 90's, they bought 15 acres and built for homes. her mother's house is now that pile of wood. why have you come back home? >> why have i come back? this is my home. this is my soul.

because i gave birth to my children here. they grew up here. my mother lives here -- used to live here. my aunt lived here. my mother-in-law lived here. i had the happiest days of my life here. this is my home. despite all the destruction, i want to be home. my soul's longing for this because it is mine, however it looks right now. it's mine. >> the bombing started on march third. first her aunt's house, than her neighbor's house, then a jet dropped a thousand pound bomb and destroyed what was left. >> look at this. this is an aerial bomb. yes, this is the aerial bomb, the remnants. >> she can wipe her hands, but not the memories. >> is this a reminder of what happened? >> it is painful, yes.

>> the only structure left standing is her house, sheltered in the basement. >> this is the basement where all of you hid. quick -- >> a seller turned sanctuary fo17 people. they prayed for a peace that seems to never come. >> he started screaming and crying at than the grannies would do the same. i would never wish that upon anyone in the 21st century. >> does it bother you to be back? >> yes. >> the basement, the thuds, the screaming kids, the old ladies. it was the scariest two weeks of my life. it needs to be cleaned up and put back together.

just not now. not yet. it's painful. >> in early march, it bore the brunt of russia's front. that single missile was unguided and killed 46 people in a square. one of the wars deadliest single attacks. they bear the scars, the cradle that destroyed the hospital. they are still surrounded by the music they once played. >> two weeks ago, we found a woman on the seventh floor. >> the woman found was the deputy governor. >> damages of libraries, stadiums.

>> invading russians driving south the kyiv. >> different spaces. >> bombs. >> rocket remnants filled the countryside. they have been busy. they search an abandoned russian encampment where soldiers who failed to seize the city left behind discarded shells. clearing left over munitions is risky. the front windows hit by russian shrapnel. russian soldiers occupy this. ukrainians target them with rockets. the total bomb disposal units discovered 10,000 pieces of unexploded ordinance and started working even as russian troops besieged the city. >> our unit has been working since the very beginning. during the air raids, we had to

hide in the shelters. we could only had back when it was quiet. it w very difficult. >> i ask o last question. how is she doing today? >> we took her with us to the city on march 11. we had no food whatsoever. and on day five she opened the door and went out to get food. there was heavy fighting in the city. we haven't seen her since. >> parts will never return. but surrounded by death and destruction. >> we accept whatever has come i am determined that we will rebuild. maybe it won't be as big or as beautiful. but i'm sure it will be better.

>> resilience and renewal at the beginning of spring. for pbs newshour, i'm nick shifrin. judy: a reminder that our coverage is supported in partnership with the pulitzer center. ♪ judy: former secretary of state hillary clinton was in washington this week for the opening of the vital voices global headquarters. vital voices is a non-profit she started with former secretary of state madeleine albright, aimed at promoting women in leadership roles. alyse nelson is the organization's president and ceo. i spoke with the two of them in a wide-ranging discussion about the significance of female leaders, russia's invasion of ukraine and the recently leaked supreme court draft decision that could overturn roe wade.

secretary clinton, alyse nelson, very good to have you both with us. secretary, we are here in the new offices of this building. you're calling the global embassy for women. what does that mean? secretary clinton: great. well, thank you for being with us, judy, because i do remember you were in beijing in 1995 covering that conference, and you can trace a line from there to this day. we really started vital voices 25 years ago to carry on the work that ca from the beijing conference about women's rights being human rights and a whole platform for action to empower women. and this building is a tangible symbol of that work. the network of women leaders that has been created, the financial and mentoring support that has been provided. and we wanted to have a buding right here in washington, d.c., like an embassy that would attract women leaders, women activists from all over the

world. judy: and alyse, you have been involved with this for a long time. what do you see happening here in this? alyse: oh, goodness. honestly, judy, i don't even think i can imagine what all is going to happen here. we created this space because what we knew is the 20,000 women leaders that we work with around the globe are truly making change. but not enough people are hearing their voices. and one of our hopes of creating this space is really to have a platform to amplify them right there. i think less than 10% of statues and memorials in the names of women. but we all know that women have had far more than 10% of the impact on our nation and certainly around the world. and so what we hope is that this will be a beacon, a signal to know that women's issues are not women's issues, they're everyone's issues. judy: secretary clinton, as we sit here this morning, there's so much going on in the world. so i do want to ask you about a few things.

and one is that has to do with the reproductive rights of women here in the united states. that draft early draft opinion from the supreme court. if the final opinion looks anything like this, what does it mean for american women? and what do you believe the options are for those who believe women should have a choice? secretary clinton: well, i think if this opinion actually is finally published as representing the majority of the court, it is a direct assault on the dignity, rights and even lives of american women. and it is heartbreaking to see this court dominated by extremists who do not represent the majority of americans, men and women who believe that this is a right that women should have. doing all they can to set the clock back. this is the first time, perhaps that i'm aware of that a right

will be actually taken away. what can be done? it has to be a recognition that as horrible assault as this is on women's rights, it is perhaps only the beginning of this court trying to undo so much of the progress of the last 50 years. you know, as a recovering lawyer, i'm aware that that's a problem that this court is focused on, is by saying that there is no real right to privacy that roe was decided wrongly. well, roe followed a case called griswold, which struck down a law prohibiting married heterosexual couples from having access to contraception. it served as the basis of decriminalizing consenting sexual behavior between gay

people who were adults and able to express their own feelings toward one another. it certainly underpins gay marriage. so this is a real threat, judy, to our democracy, not just to the rights of women. judy: and yet the options, given the political realities of congress, are are very few, aren't they? and at do you see? you see this energizing democrats more or republicans going into these crucial midterms? secretary clinton: well, i hope it generates i hope it energizes all americans who care about our democracy, who care about the women in their lives, who care about, you know, an extreme minority dictating the decisions that all of us are going to have to make, because they're the ones who are trying to determine that for everyone else. so even if you're not a woman, even if you're not gay, if not in our interracial marriage, even if you don't use contraception or whatever your

position is, you should be worried about this. and the real answer is to elect people who will respect the rights and dignity of americans, women and men alike. judy: i think there's consensus that whatever the public views are out there about roe v wade, that the pro-life forces politically have been more effective at translating their support at the ballot box into legislative wins wins in the judicial with judgeships. why do you think that is? why do you think if if more americans favor a woman's right to choose, they the other side has been more successful. secretary clinton: i think a lot of americans just took for granted that despite opposition to reproductive choice, it would not go away.

there was complacency, an acceptance. i remember during the 2016 campaign, i gave speeches about this. i talked about the dangers that would be posed to this right and other rights if my opponent were elected because of the promises that he'd made to the extreme factions within the republican party. and honestly, judy, people didn't believe me. they they their attitude was, oh, that sounds really farfetched. that'll never happen. so oftentimes in politics, the entrenched status quo position is just not as vigorously defended as the opposition position. and so those who wanted to overturn roe, those who wanted to turn the clock back, were very motivated. and those who said, oh, well, tha's settled law, including people sitting on the court who are going to vote on this decision, when asked in thei confirmation hearings, gave every reason to reassure the american public, oh, no, you know, there's such a thing

called stare decisis or yes, i follow precedent. right. either they have had some kind of, you know, brain change or they were deliberately misleading the american people. so, yeah, the energy was on the side to overturn. now, i hope that energy will shift to the side of those of us who want to protect e progress we've made. judy: and and i want to ask you about that, because you talk to most americans right now, they' worried about inflation. they're worried about the economy, other things going on in their lives. is this going to be something that motives them? secretary clinton: i think it will motivate a considerable number of voters. but of course, the case has to be made. and that's not to say you shouldn't worry about the economy and inflation. of course, people are very much aware of that. they're living with it. but let's not forget that making decisions about who gets to choose how your body is going to be treated is also a truly life or death opinion that they have

to be also taking into account in their voting. you know, there's been a lot of research around the world when. governments crack down on abortion. it does not stop abortion. what it does is make it more dangerous and causes more damage to many more women. and i would also just add, if these supreme court justices and the very extreme republicans who support them really cared about children, why don't they support health care for every pregnant woman in our country? why do they let a big state like texas deny health care? because they won't expand medicaid to mothers who want to have their children, and they therefore have the highest rate of maternal mortality in america. why don't they support child care so that if a mother is going to be forced to give birth to a child, that mother will be able to support herself and her child because she'll be able to go out and work and the list goes on.

this is not at really the end of the analysis about anything other than controlling women with some kind of patriarchal view of society that they want to impose on the rest of us. judy: just quickly, before i leave the midterms. conventional wisdom is not a good year for the democrats. as you know, when your husband was president clinton under president obama, huge losses in the house races in the middle of the first term. do you have any reason to believe it's going to be different this year? secretary clinton: well, i know the history, so i'm aware ofhe challenges, but i'm not about to throw in the towel or give up. i mean, i think it depends upon, you know, number one, whether democrats are willing to point out the extremism that has captured the republican party. and to make it clear this is not about special interest groups. this is not about one group of americans versus another. this is about the rise of authoritarianism within our own country.

this is a direct attack on our democracy. so if democrats are willing, you know, not only to address the issues that are kitchen table issues, which we do pretty well, but also to raise some of the concerns about what kind of country we're going to have. i think we could do better than is predicted. judy: a few questions quickly about ukraine. for all the extraordinary resistance and determination of the ukrainian military, the ukrainian people, and for all the the the setbacks the russians have experienced, they are still pounding away every day on ukraine. how confident are you that the ukrainians can actually win this? secretary clinton: i am very confident in the ukrainians determination to win and i am very sure that if we continue to provide them with the military assistance they need, they can continue to block russi's ambition

even now with all that russia is pounding south and eastern ukraine with, they have made relatively little progre. and putin's original idea that within three days he'd be in kiev, he'd, you know, assassinate, inprison the leadership of ukraine. he would take it over. he'd install a puppet regime. that has not happened. and i don't believe th can happen. the real challenge now is how do we best equip and support the ukrainian government, the ukrainian military, the ukrainian people in their courageous resistance to this unjustified, brutal war? and, you know, the russians haven't even taken over the steel plant yet in mariupol. they have done everything they could to destroy that bastion of resistance. and there ukrainians are still fighting literally, you know, inch by inch. so the russians have bitten off

a lot more than they can chew. they're going to look for some kind of graceful exit. but i don't think anybody should ever tell the ukrainians what they should negotiate. this is up to them and we should support them. judy: but you've dealt with vladimir putin. if he faces humiliation in ukraine, do you think he what makes you think he wouldn't turn to weapons of mass destruction, tactical nuclear weapons? and if he did, what should the response of the u.s. and nato be? judy: -- secretary clinton: i don't know what he will eventually decide to do. he's already been humiliated. he did not get what he told the russian people he was going to achieve. he's now into the third month of a war he thought would be done in three days. one of the reasons why the sanctions are so important is because they send a message to everybody around him that the cost is going to be more than you can bear.

so i don't want to speculate about what the u.s. or nato should do if some hypothetical action is taken. but i think we need to be very clear in sending a message to putin that we're going to do everything we can to make sure he does not succeed in ukraine. and at some point, given the losses in his military, given the losses of his military leadership, given the turmoil within his intelligence and security forces, because they told him what he wanted to hear and it didn't work out. i think that there's more to be seen about what happens inside the kremlin as this unfolds. judy: do you think he could actually fall as a leader? secretary clinton: i have no idea. but i think he could certainly be influenced by those who are paying a price because of his, you know, messianic and, you know, violent attack on ukraine. judy: last question i want to ask both of you, and that is, we know the leadership in the white

house, in the congress, among democrats. senior. older. in in in most cases. can you identify a few younger democratic women who you see as maybe the future of the party, alyse? secretary clinton: -- ale: well, i'll just start off by saying, by the way, this is a nonprofit, is bipartisan. judy: right. alyse: so we can't get behind political candidates, but we certainly support more women political leaders and certainly, i think more women who want to, as secretary clinton has done and the late secretary albright did, is use their position and their power to really push forward and advance issues that are important to women in their families. secretary clinton: yeah, and i certainly subscribe to that. and what's exciting about the vital voices network is that we have women who are running for office all over the world. judy: secretary clinton, alyse nelson, thank you both very much.

secretary clinton: thank you. judy: thank you. ♪ judy: in the leaked supreme court draft opinion striking down roe v. wade, justice samuel alito says the nation has an unbroken tradition of criminalizing abortion. but as john yang reports, it's much more complicated. seems like this --5 seems like this have become routine. >> please let us help you. >> in the nation's capital, they made their voices heard. >> in the country's earliest years, abortion was not against the law.

>> indigenous people have been performing all manner of health care abortions, helping people carry pregnancies to terms, the pilgrims were performing abortions. >> michele goodwin is a law professor at the university of california irvine. >> abortion becomes a controversial issue that is ripe then for legislative debate close to the time of the civil war. and it's at a time in which males are getting involved in reproduction. prior to that time, nearly 100% of women's reproductive health care had all been done by women and had been done by midwives. >> midwives who helped deliver babies also helped women terminate pregnancies. jennifer holland is a professor of history at the university of oklahoma. >> in english common law, abortions were legal before something called quickening, which is when a woman felt a fetus move somewhere between the fourth and sixth month of pregnancy and all abortions before that were legal, and only after that were they illegal.

>> women could find ways to terminate pregnancy in the pages of their newspapers. ads promoted products with shrewdly disguised names like “doctor vanderburgh's female renovating pills”, or services like those madame costello provided for ladies, “who wish to be treated for obstruction of their monthly periods.” in new york, madame restell was considered a heroine to her patients, but demonized in the press, labeled “the abortionist of fifth avenue”. her business success spawned copycats in other cities. in 1847, a group of white men formed the “american medical association”. they pushed for laws to make abortion iegal in an effort to put midwives like madame reste out of business. the effort to outlaw abortion was also driven by a growing fear of foreign non-white immigration and declining birth rates among white protestants. >> it was deeply racial, tying in to the fact that the nation

was soon to be at war and that there were tensions that were already building with abolitionists saying, these are horrible things that we see taking place in the antebellum south. and so they connected a racist impact to that, too, saying that white women needed to use their loins and go north, south, east and west because of the potential browning of america. >> between the end of the civil war and 1910 -- abortion was banned in all the states, except in cases where either the life of the mother or the viability of the fetus was at risk. but abortion was still practiced in secret. late 19th-century observers estimated that each year there were 2 million abortions. and in 1930 one-fifth of recorded maternal deaths were from these unsafe, illegal procedures, often called “back-alley” abortions. they've been portrayed in popular culture -- here in the film “dirty dancing”, set in 1963.

>> he didn't use no ether or nothing. >> i thought you said he was a real md. >> the guy had a dirty knife and a folding table. i could hear her screaming in the hallway and i swear to god johnny i tried to get in. i tried. >> attitudes toward abortion began to shift in the 1960's. one example, the highly publicized case of sherri chessen finkbine, the host of a popular children's tv show. she feared her developing fetus was damaged as a result of taking thalidomide for morning sickness. she went to sweden for an abortion because it was illega in the united states. at the time, a gallup poll showed 52 percent of americans said she did the right thing. >> in the mid-sixties, you have this reform movement grow up and clergy were really outspoken in this particular reform movement. and it's this group of clergy from all different denominations, jewish,

protestant. they counseled women about abortion and helped them seek abortions. not only that, but then the clergy would testify about their actions in the state legislature. so they were openly breaki the law. another group, based in chicago, -- >> another group, based in chicago, the “jane collective” worked underground to help thousands of women obtain abortions between 1969 and 1973. the push for abortion rights also became more visible -- and pressure was on to liberalize abortion laws. >> we're here because we were not allowed to testify to this all male committee about what happens to our bodies and our lives. >> hawaii, new york, alaska and washington state were the first to legalize abortion access for women in 1970. then, in january 1973, the supreme court announced its landmark decision in roe v. wade, legalizing abortion nationwide. >> these are justices that are

looking at the american landscape and finding that abortions have not stopped. there are people coming home and finding their daughters dead in bathroom tubs. there are people who are discovering women in motel rooms dying or dead on top of sheets and towels, women being found on kitchen tables, having tried to self-manage an abortion because it's been made criminalized. >> the roe v. wade ruling fueled a movement against abortion. groups staged marches and sit-ins across the country in protest. >> catholics were the the base -- catholics and evangelicals and also mormons, they fundamentally disagreed not only disagreed about theology, but but believe they, each of them believed that they had the monopoly on religious truth. but they really are able to link themselves through abortion politics and saying that that they are linked by something called judeo-christian values, which the anti-abortion movement resuscitates as an idea in the

seventies to sort of cover this idea that all christians, of course, oppose abortion, and they always have. and of course, that was a manufactured idea of this movement, because religious people had been very openly supporting abortion and very recently, and they knew that wasn't true. the late seventies, eighties and nineties, you have republicans acknowledge the power of this voting base. the movement has been incredibly good at developing a constituency for whom no no other issue matters. not any other issue matters as much as this one. >> in those same decades, some took their beliefs to an extreme, using violence including bombings, arsons and even murders of abortion providers. >> that is a real threat that continues to exist, not on the scale that it was, though, in the 1980s. is is now a political movement and not just something that is simply in the streets. there is a kind of political movement that has taken that has galvanized, picked up steam and

been able to win victories, both at the state legislative level and also an american court. >> i think both donald trump and these very fervent state legislatures, legislators who believe very deeply on this issue, are really a product of the power of this movement to to -- movement. >> an issue that has become one of the most divisive of the day. outside the supreme court, protests continue as the country awaits the court's final decision. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. ♪ judy: and now to the analysis of rooks and tumulty. hello to both of you.

a t has gone on in the last few days that we're here to talk about. we are four days out from the sleep from the supreme court in we heard a little bit tonight with what hillary clinton had to say. what are your thoughts right now? >> i'm humbled a lot of people are writing what is going to happen in the future. the supreme court made the roe v. wade decision, we didn't have a culture war yet. i looked at the resolutions about abortion and they were all the culture war that we had, that was partly kicked off by roe v. wade. the pro-life movement shifted over to the republican side. ronald reagan would not have been elected without p-life. donald trump would not have been elected without pro-life voters. judy: ronald ragan did sign the

law legalizing abortion in california. >> it had not become the culture were landscape we are familiar with. if you ask people like me in 1973 what will be the effect of roe v. wade, that would not have occurred to us. i don't think it will be huge in the midterms but i think it will be five years from now, 10 years from now, in ways that are really hard to see. judy: culture wars has raged about this issue, public opinion about abortion and roe v. wade has been very stable over the years. people generally support the decision.

i think by and large, people do generally want abortion to be available in the early part of pregnancy. i think that is potentially going to light a fire under people who support abortion whites -- abortion rights. two thirds of the country was not alive in 1973. judy: light a fire, but does at translate into something? >> a clear majority support abortion restrictions after the first trimester. and there is no gender gap on this issue. men and women are more or less in the same camp. should we support roe?

if the legislators start actg, in theory, in my ideal pbs world,t goes back to the voters and the majority is sort of in the middle there. they want some restrictions but not all the way through. in our ideal world, we have a debate. this is an issue where both sides have extreme the powerful arguments. judy: both sides? david: i think what hillary clinton said about what happens to women, that's a very powerful argument. what the pro-life people say in my view after about the 27th week if you look at the science of what a fetus is doing, it's a lot of humanlike activity. it is feeling pain and hearing the voice of the mother. both sides have powerful arguments. in a democracy, we would wind up where europe is. let's try to find some way to reconcile.

i'm not sure we live in that world anymore. the most likely outcome is that red states go radically one-way and blue states go radically the other. in washington, we could really see when parties get control of congress, we could see the federal government swinging wildly from one to the other. karen: in terms of the election right in front of us now, i do think that we love to fixate on whether congress, control of congress is going to shift. i think a lot of the most interesting political dynamics will be out in the states, especially in states like michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina or you have a democratic governor and a republican legislature. in just a few votes in that legislature is going to make the difference of whether or not the governor can veto these antiabortion bills that are coming through. louisiana is talking about

criminalizing it for the pregnant woman. that is somewhere the pro-life movement has never really gone before. judy: to david's point, the country is already so deeply divided. polarized. this makes it worse, doesn't it? doesn't this punctuate what the differences are? karen: i do think in terms of is it going to make the republican base more energized? it would be hard for the republican base to be more energized than it is. the question is if it lights a fire under democrats, the ones who are really ha to get to the polls. young voters, single women, i don't know the answer to that. judy: it might make a difference but we don't know. the last thing i want to ask you, the court itself. making speeches about the legitimacy of the court.

they don't want the court to be seen as political. justice thomas spoke today at a judicial conference in which he said the court is not going to be bullied no matter what people think. david: you see something similar to the furious masson bush v gore. whenever republican appointed me looks one-way and every democrat appointee votes one-way, it looks political. conservatives think it was delegitimized when roe v. wade happened. ruth bader ginsburg made the point that that decision was so big, she said it is fragile. while professors have said we are worried about this decision. they like the outcome but they were worried about the decision. hanging all that on that decision, it was waiting to go off and alito just ran through

it. should abortion be a right that people get to enjoy? does the constitution guarantee that? and you think the constitution could guarantee it, but in an ideal world, that's what happens when it goes back to the city. karen: i think the court as an institution has suffered a very serious blow this leak by the leaking of this draft opinion. we have gotten leaks of which way a decision is going to go in the past, including roe v. wade. but the kind of norm breaking ideological warfare that it took for somebody to leak the draft of an opinion written back in february shows the court has become yet another political branch of government. judy: a lot of investigative work being done to figure out how it leaked.

we talked about the midterms, but let's talk about the run-up to the midterms. you are singing the primary elections take place, former president trump weighing in. j.d. vance did come out on top. it wasn't a majority but he won the republican nomination for the senate. what does that say about the former president possibility to sway these races? >> trumps guy -- david: trump's guy won, so he gets to crow about that. j.d. vance got maybe an eight point jump. that means 68% voted against the trump camp. and mike dewine cruises to victory. this guy ran against -- he ran and did very well. karen: most of the other

candidates were fashioning themselves in trump's image. they really weren't voting against a trumpet -- trumpist li ke candidate. i think they just had different flavors of trumpism on the ballot. judy: what does it say, and we know trump is putting his weight heavily. does it look like he's going to be able to get -- karen: those will be the more interesting primaries and especially, it will be georgia where the governor is on the ballot. he is public enemy number one as far as donald trump is concerned. and sort of seeing how those races play out when you have a trump contender and a vigorously anti-trump contender, at least one that the former president believes his anti-trump on the ballot next to each other.

it is donald trump's party. i think that is pretty clear. judy: on ukraine, we heard hillary clinton focus on vladimir putin and say he has been humiliated. it looks like he will have to find some graceful exit. how much should we be worried about what putin's reaction will be if he loses. david: i agree with her sentiments on that. a graceful exit i'm not se i see coming. it has been a week of slow grinding progress for the ukrainians. we have seen them go on the offensive. we've seen them getting rid of russian oil. i was with a ukrainian activist and the conviction and fervor and she said we are not here to negotiate. i think there is a sense that he

is being pushed back. and i asked experts if we should worry about getting new and they said we have a long way to go. karen: i think it is still an open question where vladimir putin in a corner is less or more dangerous. i think if he feels like he has nothing to lose, he can be very dangerous. judy: what does the u.s. and nato do if he does? unthinkable. karen and david, so much going on right now. thank you both. karen: thank you. ♪ judy: as long as he can remember , he has been interested in how stories about his home country

of vietnam are told in america. in his own words including the it's a prize-winning novel, "the sympathizer" he centers on refugees like himself. tonight he offers his brief but spectacular take on writing and memory. it's part of our ongoing arts and culture series. >> i think anybody that has been touched by a war never forgets it. that has been true for me. i never learned anything about vietnam as far as i can remember in school. it just wasn't a subject. i got my education through hollywood and the books in the library because i was curious about where we had come from. and for the most part, that history was completely american-centered. sometimes it was benevolent exclusion of the vietnamese and sometimes it was also deeply

racist and sexist when it came to the depiction of vietnamese people. that was shocking for me and played a big role in shaping my psyche and my determination to be a writer and a scholar that could do something different. i was four years old when saigon fell or was liberated depending on your point of view. my memories of that time are really undependable. i remember soldiers writing on tanks. i sort of remember sailors and boats shooting at another boat. we arrived in the summer of 1975. we were resettled in a refugee camp in pennsylvania. i remember those barracks. storing those feelings and memories away to eventually write about them. the tension here, of course, is that everything eventually needs to be forgotten in some way for us to move on and survive.

and with the war in vietnam, we reached the point where the generation is starting to fade away. that is obviously a great loss and also another opportunity for other people to step in to tell different stories. or about that time having emotional distance. i have been lucky that the sympathizer has been read by a number of people. it's inevitable talking about war and tragedy and trauma. people are still divided about it. i noticed a lot of myself as a writer that works in conjunction with movements. when i take on that label of being the asian american writer, i'm in relationship to asian american social movements. it was through writing that i can fight for my place in american society and also the

global imagination as well. this is my brief but spectacular take on writing a memoir. judy: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos at pbs.org/newshour/brief. for more analysis on the supreme court draft decision that would overturn roe v. wade, join a moderator tonight on pbs's washington week. tomorrow on pbs news weekend, violence as brendan slocum discusses his new novel based on his experience as a black musician in predominantly white spaces. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again monday evening. for all of us, thank you and please stay safe. we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by --

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> we basically have a situation where we will have government mandated pregnancies. california's jackie speier, the first member of congress to share her experience with abortion on the house floor tells me an american handmaid's tale is in store. then -- ♪ >> "the bathe brooklyn academy c is america's oldest art senator. karen brooks hopkins talks about transforming culture in "bam...and then it hit me." led to this.