GOP silences Warren as debate over Sessions turns bitter

SENATE REPUBLICANS barred Democrat Elizabeth Warren from the rest of the debate Tuesday night over President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, after she read a 1986 letter attacking him by Coretta Scott King. / BLOOMBERG NEWS PHOTO
SENATE REPUBLICANS barred Democrat Elizabeth Warren from the rest of the debate Tuesday night over President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, after she read a 1986 letter attacking him by Coretta Scott King. / BLOOMBERG NEWS PHOTO

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans barred Democrat Elizabeth Warren from the rest of the debate over President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, after she read a 1986 letter attacking him by Coretta Scott King.

“Mr. Sessions’s conduct as U.S attorney from his politically motivated voting fraud prosecutions to his indifference toward criminal violations of civil rights laws indicates that he lacks the temperament, fairness and judgment to be a federal judge,” Warren said, quoting a letter from the late wife of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., who was discussing the 1986 nomination of Sessions to the federal bench.

Her reading late Tuesday night prompted objections from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said she “has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama, as warned by the chair” of the chamber. Warren appealed a ruling from the Senate’s presiding officer at the time, Steve Daines of Montana, that she must take a seat.

Even though it wasn’t immediately clear that such rules had ever been invoked before during debate over a cabinet nominee, Republicans led a 49-43 vote to sustain the chair’s ruling that she no longer take part in the floor debate.

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The episode, which came as Democrats held the Senate floor for more than 34 hours, marked a new low in a bitter Senate debate over Trump’s cabinet nominees that has been marked by Democratic techniques to delay votes and Republican accusations of rampant partisanship. Trump’s contentious travel ban applying to seven Muslim-dominated countries intensified the standoff, particularly over the nomination of Trump’s close ally, Sessions, to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Earlier Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence had to cast a historic tie-breaking vote to confirm Trump’s nominee to run the Education Department, Betsy DeVos, after two Republican senators joined every Democrat to oppose the pick.

Parliamentary maneuvers

McConnell’s move against Warren set off lengthy parliamentary wrangling on the Senate floor, with Democrats incensed that Republicans were shutting down debate and Republicans angry that Democrats, and in particular Warren, had attacked Sessions personally.

Republicans cited Senate Rule XIX, which states “no senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another senator or to other senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator.”

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island inquired what, exactly, they would be allowed to say about a colleague up for Senate confirmation. The chair made clear that truth is not a defense in the case of Rule XIX, and the ruling is made by the chair, not by the parliamentarian. The ruling can then be appealed to the full Senate.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah dressed down Warren and the broader Senate for what he considered to be a clear breach of decorum.

Hatch said it was “offensive” to him to see a fellow senator attacked on the Senate floor, referring to Sessions. “Think of his wife,” he said.

“We have to treat each other with respect or this place is going to devolve into a jungle,” Hatch admonished.

‘Selective enforcement’

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that Rule XIX could be invoked any day, and was being selectively enforced. He questioned why they couldn’t simply allow a reading of a letter from Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife.

“This is selective enforcement and another example of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle escalating the partisanship and further decreasing comity in the Senate,” he said.

Trump signaled his own frustration on Tuesday night about the wait to get his nominees confirmed. “It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats!” the president said on Twitter.

Warren made clear late Tuesday night that she would keep speaking out about Sessions.

“I will not be silent about a nominee for attorney general of the United States who has made derogatory and racist comments that have no place in our justice system,” she wrote to supporters in an e-mail.

The letter that Warren began reading aloud on the Senate floor pertains to Sessions’ failed 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship, which the Senate blocked after allegations he had made racist comments. He’s expected to be confirmed as the attorney general Wednesday evening.

Warren later posted a Facebook Live video of herself reading King’s letter outside the Senate chamber. In less than an hour, the video had racked up 1.6 million views.

The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus issued a statement late Tuesday blasting Senate Republicans.

“Republican senators’ decision tonight to silence Coretta Scott King from the grave is disgusting and disgraceful,” said Representative Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana Democrat. “Mrs. King’s characterization of then U.S. Attorney Senator Sessions was accurate in 1986 and it is accurate now. He is as much of a friend to the Black community and civil rights as Bull Connor and the other Good Old Boys were during the Civil Rights Movement.”

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