Republicans just silenced Elizabeth Warren for reading the words of a civil rights icon

Sen. Elizabeth Warren found herself forcibly silenced by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday night after he objected to her use of the words of Coretta Scott King to criticize Sen. Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General.

Warren was reading a now-famous letter King wrote in 1986 opposing Sessions’ nomination to a federal judgeship by Ronald Reagan when McConnell suddenly intervened. Referring to the rules of the chamber, he accused her of seeking to “impugn” a fellow senator and demanded that she be silenced. The presiding officer obliged. Warren’s objections were not heeded, and she was forced to stop talking.

The entire Senate then voted to continue to silence Warren.

This was the letter Warren was trying to read.

Warren later reacted to the incident on Twitter.