02-08-2017, 04:53 PM
WASHINGTON — http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/polit...Democratic senators Wednesday continued their repudiation of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as President Trump's nominee as attorney general, using a marathon session to offer sharp rebukes of a former Senate colleague of more than two decades.
The debate, a prelude to a vote in which Sessions is expected to confirmed as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, built on an extraordinary confrontation Tuesday night in which Republican leaders cited arcane Senate debate rules to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren was in the midst of reading from a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., who opposed then-U.S. attorney Sessions' nomination for a federal judgeship.
“Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts,'' Warren said, reading from the letter in which King condemned Sessions' role in a controversial voting fraud prosecution of three black civil rights activists in Alabama.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., interjected, saying that Warren violated Senate rules for “impugning the motives” of Sessions, and the Senate later voted to support McConnell's contention.
"I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate," Warren said, before the ruling.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., slammed the ruling as an effort to "silence Coretta Scott King from the grave."
"Mrs. King's characterization of then U.S. Attorney Sessions was accurate in 1986 and it is accurate now," Richmond said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., took up Warren's cause and continued reading from King's scathing letter. Udall's remarks were not challenged by Republicans, nor were the statements of Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who called the Senate shutdown of Warren's criticism a "gag rule.''
"I will vote against Jeff Sessions,'' Hirono said. "I am seriously concerned about Jeff Sessions' willingness to say no to the president when he needs to.''
The debate, a prelude to a vote in which Sessions is expected to confirmed as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, built on an extraordinary confrontation Tuesday night in which Republican leaders cited arcane Senate debate rules to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren was in the midst of reading from a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., who opposed then-U.S. attorney Sessions' nomination for a federal judgeship.
“Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts,'' Warren said, reading from the letter in which King condemned Sessions' role in a controversial voting fraud prosecution of three black civil rights activists in Alabama.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., interjected, saying that Warren violated Senate rules for “impugning the motives” of Sessions, and the Senate later voted to support McConnell's contention.
"I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate," Warren said, before the ruling.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., slammed the ruling as an effort to "silence Coretta Scott King from the grave."
"Mrs. King's characterization of then U.S. Attorney Sessions was accurate in 1986 and it is accurate now," Richmond said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., took up Warren's cause and continued reading from King's scathing letter. Udall's remarks were not challenged by Republicans, nor were the statements of Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who called the Senate shutdown of Warren's criticism a "gag rule.''
"I will vote against Jeff Sessions,'' Hirono said. "I am seriously concerned about Jeff Sessions' willingness to say no to the president when he needs to.''
