The Latest: Senate confirms Sessions as attorney general

The 52-47 vote broke largely along party lines and capped weeks of divisive battles over Sessions, an early supporter of Donald Trump and one of the Senate's most conservative Republicans. Democrats laced into Sessions over his ties to Trump and his record on civil rights and immigration.

Senate confirms Jeff Sessions to be next attorney general

The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama as the next attorney general, surviving a vocal push by Democrats to derail his nomination. The 52-47 vote was mostly along party lines, though one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, joined the Republicans to back their Alabama colleague.

1902 fistfight gave rise to arcane rule that silenced Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. reacts to being rebuked by the Senate leadership and accused of impugning a fellow senator, Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington Warren was barred from saying anything more on the Senate floor about Sessions after she quoted from an old letter from Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow about Sessions.

3 lessons from Republicans’ (failed) attempt to silence Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to members of the media Wednesday in the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda in Washington. By a vote of 49 to 43, Senate Republicans on Tuesday night formally silenced Sen. Elizabeth Warren during the debate over the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general.

Warren Receives Support After GOP Formally Silences Her

Senator Elizabeth Warren voiced her opinion on Facebook late on Tuesday to end her speech that was formally silenced by Republicans on the Senate floor after she quoted Coretta Scott King while criticizing President Trump's attorney general nominee Senator Jeff Sessions. The drama unfolded when the Democrat from Massachusetts overstepped the arcane rules of the chamber by reading a letter dated three decades ago from the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King that dated to the failed judicial nomination of Senator Sessions nearly thirty years ago.

Senate GOP silences Elizabeth Warren over criticism of Jeff Sessions with words of Coretta Scott King

In this image from Senate Television, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks on the floor of the U.S. Senate in Washington, Feb. 6, 2017, about the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be Education Secretary. Warren was given a rare Senate rebuke Tuesday night for impugning a fellow senator, and she was barred from saying anything more on the Senate floor about attorney general nominee and current Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

DRUDGE: ‘Republican Party should be sued for fraud’

Internet-news mogul Matt Drudge laced into GOP leadership on Wednesday morning, contending the Republican Party should "be sued for fraud" for not delivering on campaign promises soon enough. "No Obamacare repeal, tax cuts! But Republicans vote to shut Warren?" Drudge tweeted, linking a New York Times article about Republicans voting to silence Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren .

Here’s that Coretta Scott King letter that got Elizabeth Warren in trouble

Sen. Elizabeth Warren had to cut short her speech during the debate over Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination for U.S. attorney general. Here's that Coretta Scott King letter that got Elizabeth Warren in trouble Sen. Elizabeth Warren had to cut short her speech during the debate over Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination for U.S. attorney general.

Silenced in Senate, Democrat Warren speaks louder against Sessions

Silenced on the Senate floor, Democrat Elizabeth Warren took her criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee out to the hallway - and found much larger platform. Republican senators voted on Tuesday evening to end Warren's reading of a letter written 30 years ago by Martin Luther King Jr's widow that criticized Senator Jeff Sessions, the nominee to lead the Justice Department, for his civil rights record.

Constitutional expert: McConnell’s ‘perversion’ of…

Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University, warned on Wednesday that the U.S. was heading down a slippery slope toward autocracy after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used Senate rules to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren . During a Senate debate over Jeff Sessions' confirmation for attorney general Wednesday night, McConnell invoked Senate Rule 19 to silence Warren while she was reading a letter written by the widow of Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King, about Sessions 30 years ago.

Warren violates arcane rule, sparking Senate dustup

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has earned a rare rebuke by the Senate for quoting Coretta Scott King on the Senate floor. The Massachusetts Democrat ran afoul of the chamber's arcane rules by reading a three-decade-old letter from Dr. Martin Luther King's widow that dated to Sen. Jeff Sessions' failed judicial nomination three decades ago.

Republicans vote to rebuke Elizabeth Warren, saying she impugned Sessions’s character

In a Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017 file photo, Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. questions Defense Secretary-designate James Mattis on Capitol Hill in Washington, during the committee's confirmation hearing for Mattis.

Elizabeth Warren says Democrats need to ‘grow a backbone’ in speech to liberals

Get Boston Globe's Political Happy Hour newsletter , your afternoon shot of politics, sent straight from the desk of Joshua Miller. In a speech Saturday morning at the annual Progressive Congress Strategy Summit in Baltimore, Warren said the "crisis" moment began long before the election of President Donald Trump.

Warren and consumer groups mount defense as Trump eyes changes to financial regulations

President Trump on Friday took the first step toward unwinding Wall Street reforms put in place during the depths of the financial crisis, sparking outrage from consumer groups across the country. After a meeting with business executives, including the head of JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Peter Lucas: Moulton taking noisier path upward than Kennedy

It would have been a much clearer path to glory for a couple of Massachusetts Democrats had Hillary Clinton been elected president. If she had she done so she might have rewarded Sen. Elizabeth Warren with a cabinet position, or talked Sen. Eddie Markey into an ambassadorship.

Democrats, Teachers Unions Make Final Attempt To Block Betsy Devos

Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing to be next Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas Senate Democrats, labor unions and civil rights groups voiced their opposition to President Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos for Seccretary of Education in a joint letter expected to be delivered to U.S. senators Monday, according to the Washington Post .