JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight, COVID relief.

Congress moves closer to passing a long-awaited economic response to the pandemic's financial toll.

Then, balance of power.

With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, two very different debates are held in Georgia.

And, searching for justice.

We kick off a new series with one man's story of life after prison and guiding others on reentering society.

MICHAEL PLUMMER, Returning Citizen: Just because a person has traveled down a path and made a mistake, that this mistake won't label them forever, and that you can change.

There's room for redemption.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: A new week brings sharply higher COVID-19 numbers, with no end in sight.

The United States is now averaging nearly 2,200 deaths per day, and health officials warn of new spikes after holiday gatherings.

In California, almost 85 percent of state residents went under stay-at-home orders today.

DR. MARK GHALY, California Secretary of Health and Human Services: The point is to stay at home during this critical time to bring transmission rates down, to help us get this under control, so our hospitals they can do what they have done for so long, which is provide high-quality health care to all those Californians who need it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But, in New York City, elementary schools reopened, something many parents had clamored for.

Mayor Bill de Blasio cited low infections in the classroom.

President-elect Joe Biden today announced his selections to oversee the pandemic and health care in general.

He's nominating California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be secretary of Health and Human Services.

Becerra would be the first Latino in that role.

Harvard's Dr. Rochelle Walensky will be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health will also be chief medical adviser on COVID-19.

Later, Mr. Biden said he will announce his choices for attorney general and secretary of defense this week.

The top elections official in Georgia has recertified the state's results and once again confirmed president-elect Biden's victory there.

Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, made the announcement today, after a recount requested by the Trump campaign.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), Georgia Secretary of State: We have now counted legally cast ballots three times, and the results remain unchanged.

Disinformation regarding election administration should be condemned and rejected.

Integrity matters.

Truth matters.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, federal judges dismissed separate lawsuits by a Trump ally to overturn the results in Michigan and Georgia.

In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro has extended his power over the only government body under opposition control.

Sunday's elections handed Maduro's socialist allies a landslide victory in the national congress.

The opposition mostly boycotted the vote.

The U.S., the European Union and much of Latin America rejected the results.

Two robotic spacecraft are making headlines with historic cargoes.

A Japanese capsule came down safely in the Australian Outback on Sunday.

It's the first to retrieve rocks from below an asteroid's surface.

And a Chinese spacecraft is ready to return with samples from the moon, as this animation shows.

That hasn't been done since the 1970s.

On Wall Street today, stocks had a choppy session.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 148 points to close at 30069.

The Nasdaq rose 55 points, but the S&P 500 slipped seven.

And legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan has sold his entire catalog of songs to Universal Music Publishing Group.

The price was not announced, but the deal covered more than 600 songs, including "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They Are a-Changin'," and "Like a Rolling Stone" -- in other words, priceless.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": Congress moves closer to passing a long-awaited COVID relief package; with control of the U.S. Senate at stake, two very different debates are held in Georgia; we discuss the response to a worsening pandemic with Virginia's Governor Ralph Northam; and much more.

With the COVID-19 pandemic surging and some economic relief for ordinary Americans set to expire soon, Congress is finally nearing a deal on hundreds of billions worth of new aid.

Lisa Desjardins is here to walk us through what is on the table.

So, hello to Lisa -- to you, Lisa.

Tell us, what is the story?

How close is Congress?

Where do things stand right now?

LISA DESJARDINS: They're closer.

They're not there yet.

Judy, we're facing what could be two of the most consequential weeks of this or recent Congresses in general.

Congress will be working on a defense bill.

That's going through this week.

But let's talk about the other two big ones, the funding bill -- there is a funding deadline coming up -- and the COVID relief bill.

This is crunch time.

So, I'm going to break down where we stand.

What it looks like will happen now is that government funding bill and the COVID relief bill will be put together into one bill combined.

The deadline that's important here is for the government funding, which right now runs out at the end of Thursday.

But Congress now is moving to punt that decision another week.

They need more time to work out these deals.

So, now the deadline is December 18, a week later.

Judy, they're close on both of these things.

But that final mile, as you know, is the toughest.

They're not there yet.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Lisa, what do we know about what would be in the COVID relief part of this?

LISA DESJARDINS: Well, one reason that we're seeing action now is because we're seeing more problems in this country.

So, first, I want to go over the crises that we're dealing about -- what they're trying to solve here.

First, we know now that 58 percent of restaurants, according to the National Restaurant Association, say that more layoffs and closures are imminent.

Also, state governments are now saying furloughs are just around the corner, more budget cuts.

And eviction and food relief help is set to run out December 31, as part of the previous CARES Act.

So, what's happening now?

We have got these bipartisan and bicameral, meaning House and Senate, groups that are trying to come up with a deal.

Here's what's in that group, sometimes called the dinner group by a few members in it.

They would add $300 of unemployment benefits for everyone who is on the jobless roll.

They would also add $160 billion for state and local governments to help deal with those budget crises, and then, for food and rental assistance, $51 billion, Judy.

And that's just some of it.

But here's the thing.

They have not worked out the deal on liability.

That's something that Republican Leader Mitch McConnell wants, liability essentially meaning that businesses couldn't be sued if workers became sick with the coronavirus.

They're having a tough time and, in fact, meeting as you and I are speaking right now to try and figure out that that impasse over liability and lawsuits.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Lisa, what about the idea of direct payments to the neediest individuals?

We know that was a feature of the original COVID relief bill that passed much earlier this year.

LISA DESJARDINS: I get so many questions about this, so much interest.

There is no talk of direct payments by members of Congress.

The deal, Judy, is that that would add a large amount to the bottom line, something Republicans are uncomfortable with.

And, in addition, it seems that that's something President Trump wanted more than anyone.

With him having lost the election, it doesn't look like there's a lot of momentum inside Congress for that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Lisa, stay with us.

Meantime, so much of what Congress will prioritize in the new year does come down to control of the U.S. Senate.

Lisa has also been reporting on the two Senate run-off races looming next month in the state of Georgia.

Today is the voter registration deadline for the elections that will determine the Senate majority.

LISA DESJARDINS: The nation's immediate future comes down to this, one month in one state, a mad sprint in Georgia.

Democrats need to win both U.S. Senate run-offs in January in order to control the chamber.

Republicans need to keep their base fired up.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: At stake in this election is control of the U.S. Senate, and that really means control of this country.

LISA DESJARDINS: President Trump, who spoke in Valdosta Saturday, may not be on the ballot, but he is a force in the race.

DONALD TRUMP: It's rigged.

It's a fixed deal.

LISA DESJARDINS: This weekend, as he campaigned for the Republican Senate incumbents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Mr. Trump falsely charged again that the state's election, which Joe Biden won, was illegitimate.

DONALD TRUMP: You know, we won Georgia, just so you understand.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) FMR.

STATE REP. BUZZ BROCKWAY (R-GA): I am worried about it.

It's a mixed message.

LISA DESJARDINS: Buzz Brockway is a Republican, and former Georgia state representative.

He believes his party has the edge in both Senate races, but the president's message is confusing.

FMR.

STATE REP. BUZZ BROCKWAY: It's, hey, I want you to vote for the Republican candidates, Perdue and Loeffler, but the election was rigged and the machine stole -- still flipped votes and absentee ballots were stolen.

So, I have heard from people.

I have heard from dozens of people who say, I'm not going to vote.

And I hope that that's just the emotion of the moment.

LISA DESJARDINS: More than emotion, it's a movement from some Trump supporters like Lin Wood, who, at a rally last week told Republicans to stay home.

LIN WOOD, Attorney: Why would you go back and vote in another rigged election?

For God's sake, Fix it.

You got to fix it before we will do it again.

REV.

DR. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), Georgia Senatorial Candidate: Are you ready to stand up one more time?

LISA DESJARDINS: Meantime, Democrats also are pinning their underdog hope to the same strategy that they believe won the state for Biden.

STACEY ABRAMS, Founder, Fair Fight: We won this election decisively.

LISA DESJARDINS: The effort, led by Stacey Abrams, to register new voters, especially voters of color, who are growing in Georgia.

Andra Gillespie is a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

ANDRA GILLESPIE, Emory University: Now Blacks make up about 30 percent of all registered voters in the state.

And in the last decade, we have seen the number of -- proportion of Asian-American and Hispanic voters double in the state.

LISA DESJARDINS: Gillespie says this contest is entirely about base turnout.

Democrats are bringing in their superstars.

ANDREW YANG (D), Former Presidential Candidate: We got to win this thing.

LISA DESJARDINS: Former presidential hopeful Andrew Yang has literally moved to the state to help, and former President Barack Obama has campaigned virtually.

BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: The special election in Georgia is going to determine, ultimately, the course of the Biden presidency and whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can deliver legislatively all the commitments they have made.

MAN: Are you ready to organize?

LISA DESJARDINS: It is the enthusiasm fight.

Bill Nigut of Georgia Public Broadcasting: BILL NIGUT, Georgia Public Broadcasting: The circumstances here are unlike anything we have ever seen.

We're close to having a million absentee ballots applied for in Georgia.

That's only about 200,000, 300,000 fewer than at this time prior to the November 3 election.

CROWD: Stop the steal!

Stop the steal!

LISA DESJARDINS: To the Trump tornado, add multiple firestorms and attacks surrounding the candidates themselves.

Incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both former corporate CEOs, have faced headlines about their stock trades, Loeffler for trades she made after a senators-only briefing on the pandemic.

An Ethics Committee found no violations, but the issue has hovered over her.

Perdue has been scrutinized for thousands of trades he made that involved companies his committee directly oversaw.

Republicans are just as sharply on attack.

Example?

Loeffler's words last night at a debate.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): My opponent, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, is a socialist.

LISA DESJARDINS: To this, her opponent, Democrat Raphael Warnock, the pastor at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, responded with an ad.

REV.

DR. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: I think Georgians will see her ads for what they are and a simple gesture.

Don't you?

LISA DESJARDINS: Ads are part of a massive wave of cash again washing over the state.

ANDRA GILLESPIE: It wouldn't be surprising to many people if this ended up being somewhere in the neighborhood of a half-a-billion-dollar race.

The fact that so much money is pouring into Georgia is evidence of how competitive these races are.

I think if one party had a clear advantage over the other and it was very comfortable and substantial, we wouldn't see this level of spending.

LISA DESJARDINS: The intensity will keep rising, along with the money spent and the high-profile visits.

President-elect Joe Biden says he plans to visit Georgia soon.

Among the complex issues here is timing.

The Georgia run-offs are January 5.

The new Senate begins January 3 -- Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Lisa, explain how that works.

And also, I mean, remind us what is on the line here in terms of America's future in how these races turn out.

LISA DESJARDINS: I cannot stress enough how every conversation I have with any kind of source, be it about housing, be it about the coronavirus, any conversation I'm having right now, people on or off the Hill, comes back to the Georgia election.

It affects everything, the direction of this country.

It especially will affect the next round of coronavirus relief, which is one reason that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is OK with a smaller deal right now.

They expect a bigger package and more stimulus next year.

It will also affect any chance of climate change legislation, health care, all of it on the table right now in Georgia.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All eyes on Georgia, and they are going to continue to be until that run-off election takes place.

Lisa Desjardins, thank you for filling us in on both of these important stories.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Like most other states in the country, Virginia is seeing a rise in COVID cases and hospitalizations.

And with the vaccine's approval expected soon, the state is set to receive nearly half-a-million doses by the end of this month.

Virginia's Governor Ralph Northam is also a physician.

And he joins me now.

Governor Northam, thank you very much for being with us again.

So, tell us, how is Virginia doing with regard to infections, hospitalizations, positivity rate?

GOV.

RALPH NORTHAM (D-VA): Judy, thanks so much for having me.

We are seeing upward trends of our number, our positivity rate, which we follow closely.

It's now over 10 percent.

There are some areas of Virginia where it's even higher than that, especially out in our southwest.

We took some aggressive actions prior to Thanksgiving to mitigate these numbers.

Obviously, we have the Thanksgiving surge that we are concerned about.

We are probably seeing some of that beginning now.

And we're having further discussions, Judy, on whether we should take further measures to mitigate these numbers.

So, a lot of that is in discussion.

But we're very concerned, especially our hospital capacities through Virginia.

For the most part, they are doing well, but, certainly, in the southwest, we are seeing decreased number of beds, and also our staff, Judy.

And that's across Virginia.

Our staff has been doing just a wonderful job now for 10 months, but they're very tired.

They're fatigued.

And we need to take that into consideration and make sure that we protect them.

And we continue to encourage Virginians - - and, for the most part, they have been doing a good job to follow the guidelines of wearing the facial protection, washing our hands, not gathering in large groups.

So, those are the things that we're doing.

We're anxiously awaiting, like all governors, like all states in Virginia, the vaccination.

Two companies, as you know, are very close to receiving approval from the FDA.

We have been told that we're going to have 480,000 doses, which will cover our front-line health care responders and providers and also our long-term care facilities, both the residents and the staff.

So, we're excited about that, but we know there's going to be a couple of months at least where we need to keep these numbers down and need to keep that curb flat.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you're saying the people who will be first in line for the vaccine once you get it will be your front-line health care workers, and then individuals who live in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and so forth.

But what about beyond that?

I mean, when you look at essential workers, people who are over 65 years old, I mean, that's a lot of people.

How will you make decisions about who gets the vaccine first?

GOV.

RALPH NORTHAM: Yes, it's no doubt going to be supply-dependent, Judy.

And we're looking at teachers.

We want our children to be back in school safely and responsibly, our food preparers.

Those individuals, as you said, that can't work virtually from home, we really have got to make them a top priority.

So, we have three phases.

And we're following the guidelines of the CDC.

But we really want to get to the first phase and then, as the supply will allow, get to these other individuals as well.

And we are confident, that, if the supply is there -- I mean, we have been preparing for this for months now.

And, certainly, as a physician, I have experience doing this in the past, working with vaccinations.

And so we're confident that, by early to mid summer, all Virginians will have access to the vaccination, which is really encouraging news.

There's finally some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel, and we're all really looking forward to that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor, the other thing I do want to ask you about is legislation you signed several weeks ago modeled around so-called Breonna's Law, banning no-knock search warrants, of course, after the case of Breonna Taylor, the Louisville Kentucky young woman who was killed by police in her own home.

This makes Virginia the third state to pass this law.

How do you see it changing law enforcement in your state?

GOV.

RALPH NORTHAM: You know, this was a somber day for Virginia, but it was a necessary day.

And what a tragic loss of Breonna Taylor.

And her family was with us today in Virginia, and just had a -- I had the opportunity to sit and really hear their story.

As you mentioned, we're the third state had to have a no-knock warrant law.

We're actually the first state to sign into law in response to her death.

So, this is important.

It's time that we as a society do more than just talk about these tragedies.

And it's time to take action.

And that's what we chose to do.

I called the General Assembly back into special session in September.

And they took up a lot of measures with police reform, such as decertification, co-responding when there's mental illness, better training for police officers.

And, as I made the point today, this is not about being anti-police.

It's about being pro-people.

We need to make sure that we treat people civilly across our commonwealth.

And so, today, to be able to sign Breonna's Law into law was a -- it's just a -- was a good step for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

And I would hope that other states follow suit.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And finally, Governor, law enforcement organizations in Virginia, are they accepting this?

Are they -- this and your other moves to reform policing?

GOV.

RALPH NORTHAM: No, we have had a listening tour in Virginia, Judy.

And I like to say, the more I learn, the more I can do.

And the police forces were at the table, as well as a lot of community activists, a lot of the protesters that we heard from, especially after the tragedy in Minneapolis.

So we all worked on this together.

And they couldn't have been more cooperative.

And I think they agree that we needed to make changes.

And this was certainly one of them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia.

Governor, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

GOV.

RALPH NORTHAM: Thank you so much for having me, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: On New Year's Day, the United Kingdom's divorce from the European Union will be complete.

Whether it's an orderly departure or a so-called hard Brexit remains to be decided.

Hard Brexit would mean no trade deal between the two and economic uncertainty well beyond the effects of the pandemic.

Deadlines are known to focus the mind.

And, as special correspondent Ryan Chilcote tells us from London, in this case, they need to focus the future.

RYAN CHILCOTE: Rex Goldsmith always knew severing trade ties with the European Union wasn't going to be clear cut.

REX GOLDSMITH, Fishmonger: Messy old business.

RYAN CHILCOTE: While the waters of the British coast make for some of the best fishing in the world... REX GOLDSMITH: Lovely Cornish turbot, this.

RYAN CHILCOTE: ... continental Europe buys the vast majority of the fish.

REX GOLDSMITH: I just can't quite work out why we would want to upset our biggest ever trading ally.

That's what I don't understand.

Before, it was just an open door, all free-flowing.

RYAN CHILCOTE: Even in his London shop, the majority of the fishmonger's customers are European.

How much access to its waters the U.K. allows European fishermen to keep is one of the last snags preventing a free trade deal.

But it's not the only one.

The E.U.

wants the U.K. to agree to what it calls a level playing field.

ANAND MENON, King's College London: There's a real fear amongst some member states that having a large competitor economy immediately offshore is a potential risk to the E.U.

market.

RYAN CHILCOTE: Anand Menon is the director of the U.K. in a Changing Europe.

ANAND MENON: For E.U.

leaders, it's very important that non-membership looks worse than membership.

So, actually, they want to make sure that Brexit doesn't get Britain any benefits, because one of the fears is, if being out looks quite attractive, who knows who might be next?

RYAN CHILCOTE: Positions on both sides have been hardening.

PENNY MORDAUNT, British Parliament Member: While an agreement is preferable, we are prepared to leave if we can't find compromises.

RYAN CHILCOTE: The British government says it has the right to take back control of its economy, and that includes control of its waters, laws and borders.

Wednesday, the U.K. Parliament is scheduled to debate a bill the E.U.

says risks reintroducing a hard border between the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the European Union, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. That could threaten the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to decades of violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

President-elect Biden has made clear that deal cannot -- quote -- "become a casualty of Brexit."

In a last-minute concession before talks with the president of the European Commission, the British prime minister said removing parts of the legislation that break the law if the two sides can agree a deal.

Economically speaking, Brexit was always going to come with some pain, a short-term sacrifice, Brexiteers said, for a long-term gain.

Then came COVID-19.

Stores in the U.K. only opened last week, after a month-long nationwide lockdown, the second this year.

Still reeling from its steepest contraction in three centuries, the British economy is only just coming back to life.

A Hard Brexit won't help.

ROB JUKES, Chief Investment Officer, Rowan Dartington: It's a double whammy of bad news for the U.K.

In terms of Brexit, that's going to be a multiyear event.

We're not going to know how much damage that'll do or what the opportunities on the other side might look like for many years to come.

RYAN CHILCOTE: The greatest danger of the E.U.

and U.K. failing to agree a deal may be diplomatic.

ANAND MENON: And particularly in the context of a new American administration that is committed to trying and rebuilding multilateralism, having two of your closest allies at loggerheads, unable to sit down at the table because we're blaming each other for real economic damage, could damage not just the U.K. and the E.U., but the broader West as well.

RYAN CHILCOTE: Some holiday shoppers said they expect relations with their European counterparts will soon look a little like the weather.

ELISABETH NUGENT, Shopper: It'll be frosty.

I don't think they will ever forgive us.

There was a lot wrong with it.

But you can only change things if you're inside it.

And we have just destroyed everything.

And, for our children, their world has become small.

RYAN CHILCOTE: Four-and-a-half years after the U.K. voted to leave Europe, we still don't know what's coming next.

Time is running out.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Ryan Chilcote in London.

JUDY WOODRUFF: When Supreme Court justices decide cases, they often rely on a document from the 18th century, the U.S. Constitution.

As John Yang reports, today, they heard a case about a collection of art dating back to the 11th century.

The report is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

JOHN YANG: For musician Jed Leiber, it's a family story that centers around a game of strategy.

JED LEIBER, Plaintiff: For me, the metaphor for my grandfather's story and mine is chess.

JOHN YANG: As a young boy, he learned the game from his German-born Jewish grandfather, art dealer Saemy Rosenberg.

JED LEIBER: The lesson was to always play to win, but to play fair, and to think three moves ahead.

JOHN YANG: Rosenberg, who died in 1971, was a decorated World War I German army officer.

JED LEIBER: The journey, I was told, began with my grandfather playing chess against an officer who eventually became a member of the Nazi Party.

The officer one day told my grandfather to take a vacation.

And my grandfather he knew exactly what that meant.

And he left his home and his gallery and his art, and he took my mother and grandmother and fled to Holland.

JOHN YANG: Rosenberg and two other Jewish art dealers owned the Guelph Treasure, 82 pieces of Medieval religious art that date back to the 11th century.

In 1935, 42 of the pieces were sold to agents of Hermann Goering, Hitler's second in command.

After inflation, today, the transaction would be worth about $20 million.

The dealers' descendants say the sale was coerced.

JED LEIBER: Goering was building a palace museum for Hitler to impress him.

And all of the art dealers and all of the businessmen that were Jewish at the time were traumatized and were persecuted.

And it's just inconceivable that any fair transaction could have transpired during this period of time.

JOHN YANG: Today, those pieces are on exhibit in a Berlin museum.

Their estimated current value:, at least a quarter of a billion dollars, more than 12 times the value of the sale.

HERMANN PARZINGER, President, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation: Each artwork which was produced before 1945 and came into a museum collection after 1933 is suspicious.

JOHN YANG: Dr. Hermann Parzinger is president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

DR. HERMANN PARZINGER: We have so many facts to prove it was not a forced sale, because the artworks were not even in Germany.

They had been located in Amsterdam when the negotiations started.

Then the purchase price was fair and appropriate.

This was a rumor that it was given as a birthday gift from Goering to Hitler.

JOHN YANG: Over the last two decades, the foundation has investigated more than 50 claims of forced sales in the Nazi era.

DR. HERMANN PARZINGER: The facts tell, most of the cases, actually, a story that the cases have been looted in the Nazi period.

But, in this case of the Guelph Treasure, it -- the facts tell clearly a different story, that this case has no merit.

JOHN YANG: Today, the case was before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The question, whose courts should settle the dispute, America's or Germany's?

The dealers' descendants argue U.S. law gives U.S. courts jurisdiction.

Their attorney, Nicholas O'Donnell: NICHOLAS O'DONNELL, Attorney: The Nazi government set out explicitly to destroy the German Jewish people by taking their property.

And Congress has specifically identified the Nazis' looting of art from the Jewish people as genocidal.

JOHN YANG: But the U.S. government says American courts should defer to German authorities.

Chief Justice John Roberts pressed Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler on that point.

JOHN ROBERTS, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: That's the main policy, as I gather, of the United States, is simply to encourage other countries to provide mechanisms for compensation, and, if that fails, then that's just too bad?

EDWIN KNEEDLER, U.S. Deputy Solicitor General: That is right.

The relationship between a state and its own nationals was a matter that other nations had no right to complain about.

JOHN YANG: Leiber finds them hard to swallow.

JED LEIBER: I don't believe how we could possibly receive a fair trial any more than my grandfather could have made a fair deal in 1935 with Hermann Goering.

JOHN YANG: Analysts say the court has tried to make it harder for cases like this to be heard in the United States.

MARCIA COYLE, "The National Law Journal": If we open our doors to their claims, they may open their doors to our claims as well.

JOHN YANG: Marcia Coyle is chief Washington correspondent for "The National Law Journal."

MARCIA COYLE: And Justice Breyer then was saying, well, we have had some bad acts in our past, and what if claims were brought involving the internment of the Japanese, claims for reparations for slavery?

Would that allow those claims to be heard by foreign judges in foreign courts?

JOHN YANG: Leiber's fought to right what he sees as an 85-year-old wrong for more than a decade.

As this whole process has been going on, have you been thinking of your grandfather moving chess pieces around the board?

JED LEIBER: You nailed it.

You nailed it.

JOHN YANG: Playing fair, thinking three moves ahead, and playing to win.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Tonight we take a look at the challenges many formerly incarcerated men and women face as they reenter society.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended the lives of all Americans, but it's been especially hard on individuals known as returning citizens.

William Brangham tells the story of one man in Washington, D.C., who is trying to beat the odds.

It's the first in a series of reports this week called Searching For Justice.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After 23 years behind bars, this was the moment when Michael Plummer became a free man.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MICHAEL PLUMMER, Returning Citizen: It was a great feeling.

I got released on February 10 of this year.

It's like stepping into a different world.

You live in a world.

You are stepping into a different world.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Plummer is now 40.

He was locked up in 1997 for a murder he committed when he was 16.

Growing up in a violent neighborhood in Washington, D.C., Plummer says his story was, sadly, pretty common.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: A lot of my friends and family members was killed.

And then those who did went to jail, they did 10 years, they did 15, 20 years.

And some of them are still serving life sentences.

So, my mother, she fell victim to using drugs and so forth.

My dad, he went to prison for a long time.

I moved around from family members to family members.

Sometimes, I was homeless or we would live in like shelters and stuff like that.

So, when I started getting a little older, like sixth, seventh grade, and that's when I had my first brush with the law.

And that's when I got into the streets.

And, initially, it's for like, OK, I need shoes, I need food.

But then you actually do become a product of your environment, though.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Plummer recently took me back to his old D.C. neighborhood, just a mile from the U.S. Capitol, and now transformed by gentrification.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: Further down the street down here, this is where I operated.

We sold cocaine or weed or whatever else we had.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As a kid, he joined a small neighborhood gang, known as a crew, and it became like a family.

And one night, when his crew clashed with a different crew, Plummer shot and killed another teenager.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: And I wish like a million times I could have went back and thought about it and had a better outcome than what came about.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Two years later, when Plummer turned 18, he received a 30-year-to-life sentence for that shooting.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: And the whole time, I'm just thinking man, is this going to be my life?

You know, I definitely made a bad decision in what I did.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: During more than 20 years in prison, Plummer says he began to slowly turn his life around.

He got his GED.

He did job training programs, earned a college diploma, and he converted to Islam.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: I grew up in prison.

And growing up in prison... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Do you think of it that way?

Do you think of growing -- that you actually did grow up in prison?

MICHAEL PLUMMER: Sure.

Some people grow up in orphanages.

Some people grow up in society.

I actually was raised in prison.

I spent my time wisely in there, despite me being in that predicament.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Plummer also says he wanted to prove to his daughter, Mayana (ph), who was born when he was just 15, that he had changed as a man.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: The things that I did while I was in the street, I reflected upon.

And, in retrospect, it was hideous.

It hurt my heart.

And I want to show my daughter that just because a person has traveled down a path and made a mistake, that this mistake won't label them forever, and that you can change.

There's room for redemption.

And so no wrong can't be corrected.

And I wanted to correct that.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Plummer was eventually released thanks to a Washington, D.C., law allowing judges to free certain longtime prisoners whose crimes were committed when they were juveniles.

More than 50 men have now been released since 2018.

However, his new freedom brought new challenges.

The pandemic hit just weeks after his release, and all the places that could help him get back to some semblance of normal life were closed.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: You got to get a birth certificate.

You got to get a Social Security card.

So I was gone for 23 years, and both parents passed away.

So, these documents was lost.

And so I had to go and get them again.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He had no credit history, no credit cards, never applied for a loan of any kind.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: That's the first thing they ask for, your credit, how long you been employed.

So, these things are nightmares for me when I want to go and purchase a vehicle or try to get an apartment.

It's horrifying.

And they want to check your credit score and so forth.

And not knowing this coming out is a disadvantage.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Plummer did find housing with his brother, and with the help of his lawyer, he was able to reestablish his identification.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: So, to own these documents myself, a driver's license, to get a Social Security card, to get a bank account, I was overjoyed.

I was integrating myself into society slowly, but surely.

And I felt like a citizen again.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Michael Plummer is, in some ways, a best-case scenario.

When he was locked up, he took advantage of programs the prison offered.

But not all prisons offer those programs.

When he got out, he had family to help him find a house.

But formerly incarcerated individuals are 10 times more likely to be homeless and five times more likely to be unemployed.

And if you don't have a job and you don't have a house, it's very hard to lead a normal life.

That's partly why so many, more than four in 10, cycle back to a life of crime.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: I have been here where you have been at, right?

And I'm a returning citizen.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But now Plummer is trying to change that for the next generation.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: I don't want you to have to do 23 years in prison or life in prison.

It's going to start right here, right now.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He got a full-time job at a nonprofit that works with young people in custody within D.C.'s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Norman Brown is the program manager who pushed for Plummer to get this job.

NORMAN BROWN, Credible Messenger Initiative: When people come before us to be interviewed for these type of roles, my heart is into believing and knowing that people can outgrow certain behaviors.

And we're willing to give you a chance, just like someone gave me one.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Brown spent 24 years in prison himself for selling crack cocaine.

He says people like Plummer, who they call credible messengers, have a legitimacy with young people because of their own backgrounds.

NORMAN BROWN: He panned out to be exactly what we needed to add to our initiative.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: On many days, Plummer is back inside the city's juvenile detention facilities.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: You got to make the judgment that's right, even if your peers dislike it.

I'm going to do what's right.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He offers advice.

He shoots hoops.

Sometimes, he even leads prayers for those interested.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: When I was young, went down the path I went down.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But he's also here to share his own story.

When you're meeting a young person for the first time who might be facing a very long time behind bars, what's that conversation like initially?

How do you approach somebody?

MICHAEL PLUMMER: You tell them what you have been through.

And a lot of times, when I tell a youth that I did 23 years in prison, they can't believe it.

And so then I asked them, how old do you think I am?

And so when I tell them that I went in when I was 17 and I didn't come out until I was 40, they eyes get big, because now they're starting to click that this can maybe be them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Officials asked us not to use these young people's names or to discuss their crimes, but they did allow us to talk with them about why they trust someone like Michael Plummer.

INMATE: We don't have a lot of people like Mr. Plummer coming around you and giving you the tools that you need.

INMATE: He actually come from where we come from, been through it, know what's going on, stuff like that, because, at the end of the day, somebody who don't know what you got going ahead of you, they might not know exactly what to tell you and what advice that you really need.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Plummer also meets with formerly incarcerated adults, like Isaac Carey.

The 24 year-old was released from prison late last year, but has struggled to find steady work.

ISAAC CAREY, Returning Citizen: Selling drugs to like going to -- getting a real job, you know, the money is different.

So, that's like a hard transition.

So, Michael helped me.

He sent me like job applications and stuff like that.

He even helped me towards documents and stuff, like helping me get my I.D.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Now, nine months after his release, Plummer says he is rebuilding a relationship with his daughter.

And he recently got married to a woman he's known since he was a teenager.

MICHAEL PLUMMER: Upon me coming home, we got back in contact with each other.

I asked her out for a date again.

And from there, she winded up putting a chain on my leg and locking me down.

And so we got married.

And we're newlyweds right now, and we're just enjoying each other.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He's leading a life Plummer says he never could've never imagined 23 years ago.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in Washington, D.C. JUDY WOODRUFF: With every week, we get a better picture of president-elect Biden's team, first on national security, then on the economy, and, this week, on health care.

Amna Nawaz is here to consider his picks.

AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, the Biden health team will enter the White House as the virus surges nationwide, and the vaccine is still months away.

As we reported earlier, the team includes Drs.

Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky, with Xavier Becerra leading at HHS.

Also on the team, Dr. Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, Jeff Zients as COVID czar, Natalie Quillian as his deputy coordinator, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith to lead a task force on health disparities.

Now, here to analyze the politics behind the nominations are Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report and host of public radio's "Politics With Amy Walter," and Errin Haines of The 19th News.

Tamara Keith is away.

Amy and Errin, good to see you.

And thanks for being here.

Amy, we know that easily one of the biggest crises the Biden administration will face coming in will be the pandemic response.

Now we know the team that will lead that response.

When you look at these particular picks at this particular time, what do they say to you?

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Well, what they say, Amna, is, you have got some really important experience there.

Obviously, keeping Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has become the face of the response to the pandemic, very trusted, certainly on the Democratic side for Republicans, that not -- not quite as much, but still a trusted voice across the board.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was in the Obama administration, also has a very deep experience now in handling this pandemic and public health, so a lot of experience there on the table.

Now, the HHS designee, the attorney general, Xavier Becerra, doesn't come from a traditional public health background.

He's the attorney general in California.

He came from the House of Representatives, where he served for many years.

So, he doesn't seem in some ways to be sort of a natural pick.

But he's someone who spent a lot of time as attorney general defending the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, in court.

And he is somebody also who is going to have to hit the ground running, somebody who understands how systems work, how the system of government, both in Washington and then a big state like California, putting into place not just the policies of the -- of Health and Human Services, or what the White House would like to put forward in terms of health care policy, but being able to put the systems in place to deliver vaccines.

That is going to take up, I think, really the majority of the time for HHS and being able to do that smartly, safely and in a very transparent way.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that's a perfect segue to the question I want to put to Errin, which is that, Errin, there's another through line on this team, and that relates to Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act.

Jeff Zients, who will be the COVID czar, led the charge to fix healthcare.gov after the ACA rollout.

Becerra, as California attorney general, has been leading the legal fight to protect the ACA, as Republicans work to dismantle it.

Does all of this say to you that the ACA appears to be sort of a central tenet when it comes to the Biden pandemic response?

ERRIN HAINES, Editor at Large, The 19th News: Well, I think that you can't talk about the pandemic and its relationship to our health care system without talking about its relationship to our health care system.

I think, certainly, from Joe Biden's perspective, even in the primary before we got to the coronavirus pandemic, building on the work that the Obama/Biden administration had done around health care was a campaign priority for him.

And I think that it's going to be a governing priority, particularly because of the systemic inequality around the health care system that exposed, at least in the Biden campaign and transition team's mind, the need for the Affordable Care Act to be strengthened and expanded.

And so I do think that is also going to depend largely on the future of the Senate, which we know is in the balance right now in my home state of Georgia.

The run-offs there could decide what happens there and also could factor into what happens to the future of the Affordable Care Act, even as the legal challenges persist with regard to that landmark legislation.

AMNA NAWAZ: Errin, when you look at some of the key roles that have yet to be filled -- we have yet to see names for some Trump administration posts, attorney general among them, secretary of defense, although president-elect Biden said today we should hear those names by the end of the week -- there's a number of other Cabinet-level positions as yet to be filled.

When you look at the folks who have been named to fill some of those Trump administration posts, it is easy to see it's a much more diverse makeup than the current administration, for sure, many more women, many more people of color, some firsts potentially there with Neera Tanden at OMB and Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the U.N. And yet still there is a very public battle unfolding for people who are calling for more diversity at the very top ranks.

What do you make of that right now?

What is riding on those selections?

ERRIN HAINES: Well, I think that for the groups that are raising these concerns, there's a lot riding on it.

Listen, we know that, a month out from the election, Joe Biden has begun to name some of these administration nominations and other posts.

But there are definitely groups that I'm hearing from, black and brown lawmakers and leaders, who are worried that, as those positions are filled, and there become less open seats left to fill, that they're -- that diversity remains a priority.

And so they are pushing this transition team to hear their concerns that someone with their lived experience and -- be put in these roles, so that, really, they have a seat at the table, not just for symbolism, but also for substance, in terms of weighing in on the governing and the policy.

I mean, you take that -- the health care announcement today, for example, so many women and people of color in that group alone, and also some pioneers.

I think that what that says is that the transition team understands women, people of color are being disproportionately affected by this pandemic.

Joe Biden said that one of the four crises he faces coming into office is racial inequality.

And so addressing that and having that reflected in his governing priorities with the people that he chooses, I think, is something that his -- these constituencies want to hold him accountable for.

You have got civil rights groups meeting with him tomorrow.

You had the Congressional Hispanic Caucus meeting it with him last week.

And so these are folks that are getting an audience with this transition team, and hoping that their concerns are heard.

AMNA NAWAZ: Amy, I want to make sure we turn to some news from today as well, because, as we speak, President Trump's legal campaign to continue to challenge the election results does continue.

In the month since the election, the Associated Press tally says, in the 50 cases they have launched challenging results, about 30 have been rejected or dropped.

There's about a dozen awaiting action.

And, of course, as Errin mentioned earlier, there are two key races looming in Georgia in January.

Does all of this, challenging the election results, calling into question election integrity, does that have an impact on Georgia?

AMY WALTER: You would think, Amna, right?

When you're trying to get your voters out to show up just a couple days after the new year, by continuing to rail against the system, saying that it was rigged, questioning whether the actual voting systems themselves are flipping votes, that doesn't seem like a good strategy.

At the same time, I think where Trump has been successful as a candidate and as a political figure is by keeping people outraged at all times, keeping his base fired up.

And one way to do that is, as he did this weekend at his rally, is to say, they may have stolen it from me -- which, of course, we all know is not true.

There's no evidence that this election was rigged or that these voting machines were working improperly.

But what he's saying is, don't let them take the Senate away from you, too.

Let's make this sort of the last gasp here.

Don't let this be the last gasp, me losing Georgia.

Let's make sure that you get out and have your vote heard.

So, in that sense, it keeps his base much more motivated than, say, for Democrats, where the question is not so much -- keeping the Senate is obviously part of the rallying cry, but it's not as, say, intense or as powerful as, let's get rid of Donald Trump.

That message has been the existential question for Democrats for the last four years.

Now that he's gone, is that enough, let's keep the Senate, let's make sure his agenda gets enacted, enough to keep the momentum going?

AMNA NAWAZ: As we know, those two key races will determine control of the Senate.

They are now weeks away.

And that is Politics Monday.

Errin Haines and Amy Walter, thanks to you both.

Always good to see you.

AMY WALTER: Thank you, Amna.

ERRIN HAINES: Good to be with you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Before we go, we want to take a moment to honor one of our own.

Glynda Bates has worked at Washington's public television station, WETA, and the "NewsHour" for more than 45 years.

From the very beginning, Glynda has played a critical role in getting this program on the air.

As stage manager, she has made sure I and our guests are in the right place at the right time.

Glynda has done it all with her signature grace and her kindness.

She begins her retirement today.

And, Glynda, we all wish you the very best on this new adventure.

And want to congratulate you on a remarkable career.

And thank you for everything you have done.

We miss you.

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.