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<\/a><\/p>\nSen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to break party rank and vote to back Sessions. Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted alongside 45 Democrats in opposition to the nominee.<\/p>\n
The fight over Sessions’ nomination infamously escalated last night, when Sen. Elizabeth Warren read a letter that Coretta Scott King had written in 1986 that accused Sessions, a U.S. attorney at the time, of using the power of his office to prevent blacks from voting.\u00a0 As we reported last night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objected to Warren\u2019s speech, saying she had impugned another member of the Senate. Then, in a 49-43 vote, the Senate agreed, blocking Warren from speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Angry Democrats accused McConnell of silencing a woman on the floor, and Warren went on a media blitz against the Republican senators and Sessions. The tensions were on full display during the debate over Sessions\u2019s nomination. \u201cWe all know our colleague from Alabama. He\u2019s honest,” McConnell said. \u201cHe\u2019s fair. He\u2019s been a friend to many of us, on both sides of the aisle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats defended their criticism of Sessions\u2019s record on issues of race and civil rights.\u00a0 \u201cWhen we make a big issue of the position of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions on the Voting Rights Act, it’s with good cause. It is historically an issue which has haunted the United States since the Civil War,\u201d Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) \u2014 the No. 2 Senate Democrat \u2014 said ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Sessions is not a man apart from this agenda. He is not independent of [Trump’s] agenda,\u201d said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
Republicans meanwhile decried the Democratic tactics, arguing they were going to new lows to smear Sessions. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) \u2014 a long-serving Senate traditionalist \u2014 said Democrats are treating Sessions like a \u201cterrible person,\u201d urging his colleagues on Tuesday night to think of Sessions\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n