--- ---  # This Is the Coretta Scott King Letter That Elizabeth Warren Was Prevented From Reading in the Senate by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 8, 2017 6:35 AM UTC  American civil rights campaigner and widow of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King (1927–2006), stands behind a podium at "Peace in Vietnam" rally at Central Park, in New York City, on April 27, 1968 American civil rights campaigner and widow of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King (1927–2006), stands behind a podium at "Peace in Vietnam" rally at Central Park, in New York City, on April 27, 1968Hulton Archive—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 8, 2017 6:35 AM UTC Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced on Tuesday night during the Senate [debate](http://time.com/4656534/jeff-sessions-senate-committee-approval/) over the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General after she quoted a letter written by the late Coretta Scott King in which King spoke out against Sessions’ character, the [Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/07/republicans-vote-to-rebuke-elizabeth-warren-for-impugning-sessionss-character/?utm%5Fterm=.a1b3213232c9) and other outlets reported. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said that Warren had “impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama,” referring to Sessions; the Republican-held Senate then voted 49 to 43 to uphold the objection that she had breached the rules of debate. The letter in question, [first published publicly](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/10/read-the-letter-coretta-scott-king-wrote-opposing-sessionss-1986-federal-nomination/?utm%5Fterm=.1c27bfe09386) by the Washington _Post_ last month, was written by Martin Luther King’s widow to Senator Strom Thurmond in 1986, when Sessions was nominated to serve as a federal judge. King was writing the letter to “express \[her\] sincere opposition” to the confirmation of Sessions, who, she wrote, had “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.” The full text of that letter is below: --- > “” --- Read the Coretta Scott King Letter Banned From Senate Debate ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4663497/coretta-scott-king-letter-warren-senate-sessions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4663497/coretta-scott-king-letter-warren-senate-sessions/"},"headline":"This Is the Coretta Scott King Letter That Elizabeth Warren Was Prevented From Reading in the Senate","datePublished":"2017-02-08T06:35:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:11:56.277Z","description":"\"He has used the awesome powers of his office ... to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters\"","url":"https://time.com/4663497/coretta-scott-king-letter-warren-senate-sessions/","keywords":["Race","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0db0b0e084603e6d/6988b93897cdff84c16af68a/gettyimages-56710525.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0db0b0e084603e6d/6988b93897cdff84c16af68a/gettyimages-56710525.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Coretta Scott King","caption":"Coretta Scott King","creditText":"Hulton Archive—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/race/","name":"Race"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4663497/coretta-scott-king-letter-warren-senate-sessions/","name":"This Is the Coretta Scott King Letter That Elizabeth Warren Was Prevented From Reading in the Senate"}}]}] ```