Twitter Erupts After Republicans Rebuke and Silence Elizabeth Warren for Reading Coretta Scott King’s Letter

#LetLizSpeak

During Senate Democrats’ 24-hour “mini-filibuster” to protest the nomination of Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tried to read on the Senate floor a letter written by civil rights icon Coretta Scott King, the very same letter read thirty years ago on the Senate floor in opposition to Sessions’ nomination to the federal bench.

Senator Warren was not allowed to read the letter in full, after a claim by the presiding Senate president, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) that the contents of the letter violated Senate rules by “impugning” the character of a fellow senator. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed, and set up an exceptionally rare vote to officially rebuke – and silence – Senator Warren.

What was so horrific that caused the sensitive ears of Senate Republicans to be so offended they needed to silence not just Senator Warren, but Coretta Scott King?

Via The Washington Post:

“Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens,” King wrote, referencing controversial prosecutions at the time that Sessions served as the U.S. attorney for Alabama. Earlier, Warren read from the 1986 statement of Kennedy, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee who led the opposition then against Sessions, including the Massachusetts Democrat’s concluding line: “He is, I believe, a disgrace to the Justice Department and he should withdraw his nomination and resign his position.”

In response to the rebuke led by Mitch McConnell, Senator Warren said: “I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate.”

She then took the letter and let the Senate chambers, and read Coretta Scott King’s letter live on Facebook (video above).

UPDATES:

Republican Senator Who Warned Warren Tweets Video of Him Titled ‘The Senator Will Take Her Seat’

After Republicans Rebuke Elizabeth Warren Four Others Senators Read Same Letter Uninterrupted

And then she spoke with Rachel Maddow:

CNN Wednesday morning ran a story titled: “Silencing Elizabeth Warren backfires on Senate GOP”:

And by doing so, majority Republicans just handed the liberal firebrand a megaphone — further elevating President Donald Trump’s fiercest and most prominent critic in the Senate and turning her into a Democratic hero.

Twitter erupted in fury and anger over McConnell’s and his Republican Senators’ actions, spawning the hashtag #LetLizSpeak: