Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was widely condemned last night after he silenced Senator Elizabeth Warren during a confirmation hearing for Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General. McConnell said that while Warren was warned several times, “nevertheless she persisted.”
At the time she was censured, Warren was reading a 1986 letter in which Coretta Scott King opposed Sessions’ nomination as a district court judge (he was ultimately not confirmed). King criticized Sessions’ attempts to block voting rights for blacks.
“Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts,” the letter reads in part. “I believe his confirmation would have a devastating effect on not only the judicial system in Alabama, but also on the progress we have made everywhere toward fulfilling my husband’s dream that he envisioned over 20 years ago.”
Many women were particularly moved by King’s words and outraged by McConnell’s actions. So they took to Twitter and posted videos reading the letter themselves. Actress Debra Messing started the movement, and then shared videos from other notable women:
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829222260590440448
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829219137465569280
Feminist and activist Gloria Steinem
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829218312823373824
Actress Patricia Arquette
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829218643720413186
Singer Cynthia Erivo
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829218881587834881
Comedian Kathy Najimy
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829219066019794945
Lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829219354596237312
Author Luvvie Ajayi
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829219450935205888
Dartmouth professor Ella Bell
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/829219828212838400
McConnell wasn’t the only senator to criticize Warren—Utah Senator Orrin Hatch said she “ought to be ashamed” of herself and that she should “think of his (Sessions’) wife.”
But this morning, several other senators took up Warren’s mantle—both New Mexico Senator Tom Udall and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown read King’s letter on the Senate floor without being silenced (because they’re men).
