Last week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren took the floor of the U.S. Senate to speak against the confirmation of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. As she attempted to read a letter written by Coretta Scott King asking Senators to vote against his confirmation to a federal judgeship in 1984 due to his history of racism, she was silenced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
He invoked an obscure and rarely-used Senate rule to silence Warren for the remainder of the Sessions debate, remarking: “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”