Tonight, Senate Republicans silenced Senator Elizabeth Warren and banned her from speaking on the Senate floor on a party-line vote.
Why? Because she had the audacity to read, on the Senate floor, a letter written by civil rights icon Coretta Scott King—Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow—opposing the confirmation of Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship in 1986.
"Mr. Sessions," the letter from Coretta Scott King said, "has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens."
That was the line that was enough to set off Mitch McConnell. He called for a vote on whether Sen. Warren had broken the Senate's rule against impugning the motives and conduct of a fellow senator.
Sen. Warren objected saying, "Mr. President, I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate. I ask leave of the Senate to continue my remarks."
But the Republicans overruled her and demanded that she take her seat. Under the rules of the Senate, the Republicans had the power to do it.
Here is Elizabeth Warren with her own words and those of King.
If you would like to read the full King letter, you can see it in this pdf.
Was it wrong to call the past of another senator call into question the motives and conduct of a fellow senator? Wouldn't that be the thing to do when considering confirming someone to the Attorney General position?
The career of Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, has been shadowed by his prosecution of the "Marion Three." Sessions brought forth the voter fraud case as a U.S. attorney in 1985, and his critics alleged the charges to be racially motivated. This video from the Washington Post sheds some light on who the "Marion Three" were and what Sessions did to tarnish his record.
Is this one thing alone enough to call into question Session's ability to be Attorney General?
Should Warren have been silenced?
h/t: Washington Post , MoveOn.org