The Moment When Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans Attempted to Silence the Opposition

 by Nomad

This week saw an ominous moment in Congressional history. That was the moment when a female US Senator was told shut up and sit down by her male colleagues.

Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren had been attempting to read a 30-year old letter by Coretta Scott King of Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship. By reading the letter into the Congressional record on the Senate floor, Warren had planned to King letter as evidence of Session's unfitness to serve as Donald Trump Attorney General.

However, Majority Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell cited Senate Rule XIX - an obscure 115-year-old rule to aimed at keeping Senators from fistfighting. The rule states that Senators are prohibited from impugning another senator.
McConnell said

“She was warned. She was given an explanation Nevertheless, she persisted.”

Warren was then ordered to be silent for the remainder of the debate. In a CNN interview, Senator Warren later said

"I literally can't be recognized on the floor of the Senate. I have become a nonperson during the discussion of Jeff Sessions."

And she added:

"They can shut me up, but they can't change the truth."