New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall (D) read Coretta Scott King's scathing letter against Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Wednesday after his colleague, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was banned for attempting to do the same on Tuesday night. On Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that by reading the missive, Warren "impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama," a violation of the Senate's arcane Rule 19.
King's letter, written to protest Sessions' nomination to federal judge in 1986, reads in part that "the irony of Mr. Sessions' nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods. Twenty years ago, when we marched from Selma to Montgomery, the fear of voting was real, as the broken bones and bloody heads in Selma and Marion bore witness."
I entered Coretta Scott King’s letter abt #Sessions into the Senate record and read it from the floor—her words should not be silenced.
— Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) February 8, 2017
I read Mrs. King’s letter about Mr. #Sessions’ commitment to justice for all. I leave it to my colleagues to assess that commitment.
— Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) February 8, 2017
Udall used the letter to express his distress over Sessions' nomination for attorney general, and more broadly his concern over President Donald Trump's Cabinet. Watch the beginning below.
New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall begins reading Coretta Scott King's letter on the Senate floor https://t.co/T5uqoA85rO pic.twitter.com/sunkqrkLe6
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 8, 2017