Risch on blocking letter from Coretta Scott King in Senate: ‘Doesn’t matter who wrote it, rules are rules’
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch is staunchly defending his role in blocking a letter from Coretta Scott King from being entered into the record in the U.S. Senate during Tuesday evening’s debate over the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general, saying Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren violated Senate rules by bringing up the letter.
“It doesn’t matter who wrote it – the rules are the rules,” Risch said Wednesday. “If you don’t have rules, you have anarchy.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.
Risch contended the letter “impugned” Sessions. Written in 1986, when Sessions was U.S. Attorney in Alabama, the letter from King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr., objected to Sessions being appointed as a federal judge – a nomination the Senate at that time rejected.
It said, “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”
Risch said, “It was very derogatory to Jeff.”
