despited disagreement over america's kurdish allies fighting isis in syria, steven cook says thee trump white holl accept the status quo in turkey. >> as long as the united states can continue to fight the lamic state i think the conduct and outcome of turkey's election are of secondary at best ccern for the trump administration. >> reporter: president trump has praised the rkish leader, citing their great friendship during a meeting in 2017. for the pbs newshourm william brangham. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: the struggle to protect gun owners who have dementia. it's politics monday.co thinued immigration fight on capitol hill. and remembering the poet donald hall. but first, this term the u.s. supreme court was asked to weigh in on one long-running political debate. as amna nawaz explains, it's all about what is and isn't allowed when lawmakers draw electoral districts. >> reporter: over the past year, the supreme court-- in more than one case-- has tackled gerrymandering. today, the court ruled on a case out of texas questioning whether the state used racial

pruitt picked steven cook to run a superfund task force. he spent 20 years as a lawyer. the industry responsible for creating many of the toxic sites he's now in charge of cleaning up. >> if i were a governor or mayor, i would be really concerned that the game of politics is being played instead of cleaning up the sites and making communities safe. >> reporter: elgie holstein says it's about helping big business, not the environment. >> what is clear is his first choice of appointments is not going to be people who care about the environment. >> reporter: the "associated press" found nearly half of the political appointees recently hired at the agency have industry ties. while environmentalists are concerned cook's job history makes him bad choice for the job, the epa argues it makes his background good for the agency. pruitt's allies on capitol hill say he still has work do. >> it's important that people believe he's a person they can trust and will do the job without influence one way or the other, and i -- knowing scott prui pruitt, i think he will do a good job. >> r