Silencing Elizabeth Warren backfires on Senate GOP
The Senate has silenced Elizabeth Warren.
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.
Warren cited the letter during a debate on the nomination of Sessions -- now an Alabama senator -- as Donald Trump's attorney general. Reading from King's letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986, Warren said: "Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge."
Liberals had been frustrated with Warren's vote in committee in favor of Ben Carson, Trump's nominee for secretary of Housing and Urban Development. No more.
By Tuesday night, the hashtag #LetLizSpeak was trending on Twitter.
Warren used Twitter to attack Sessions and McConnell.
"I will not be silent about a nominee for AG who has made derogatory & racist comments that have no place in our justice system," she wrote.
Given his past, will Sessions stand up to Trump?
If Sessions is confirmed Wednesday by the Senate, as expected, the nation’s 84th attorney general will be responsible for leading the legal defense of President Trump’s immigration restrictions, for halting and investigating terrorist attacks, and for probing hate crimes and abuses by local and state law enforcement.
He also is expected to play a key role in implementing Trump’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration by increasing deportations.
His boss isn’t making things easier. Last weekend, Trump denounced a federal judge in Seattle who had temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order suspending immigration and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Sessions “is in a tight spot, that is for sure,” said John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “He has a tough job for a whole panoply of reasons.”
Supporters say Sessions is uniquely qualified to lead the Justice Department in such a turbulent time.
Pointing to his 12 years as U.S. attorney in Alabama, and two years as state attorney general, they said Sessions has the experience to prosecute criminals, make policy decisions and aggressively tackle illegal immigration.
Democrats and civil rights groups worry that Sessions’ conservative record on civil rights, voting rights and environmental laws portends trouble.
They also are concerned that such an ardent Trump advocate — Sessions was one of Trump’s earliest and most enthusiastic campaign surrogates — will oversee the reported federal investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other Democrats have questioned whether Sessions can be trusted to enforce the law, especially if potential investigative targets are in the White House.
Gillibrand…..the only Senator to vote “no” on every single nominee thus far.
Sooo….is he suggesting we put prisons on the moon?
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