In Feb. 7, 2017, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) tried to read a 1986 letter from the late Coretta Scott King, expressing her opinion that then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was unfit to serve as a federal judge. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) then silenced Warren through the Senate’s Rule XIX, which states that “no Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.” Warren persisted, with her response promptly appearing on Facebook Live and across the internet as she read the letter to an audience of millions. If Warren simply read the letter without opposition, some might argue, the event would likely have gone unnoticed.
