US Republican senators voted to silence Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren after she began reading a letter written 30 years ago by Martin Luther King Jr's widow that criticised attorney general nominee Senator Jeff Sessions.
The action prompted a tide of support on Facebook for Ms Warren, under a hashtag #LetLizSpeak after she went outside the chamber and read the letter in a video posted on the site that drew more than five million views by this morning.
She said: "The Republicans took away my right to read this letter on the floor - so I'm right outside, reading it now."
The unusual rebuke of Ms Warren came after the Republican-controlled Senate cleared the way for confirming Mr Sessions as attorney general. A final vote is expected today.
Ms Warren took to the Senate floor to argue against the nomination, reading the letter Coretta Scott King wrote in 1986 about Mr Sessions to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which ultimately rejected his nomination to be a federal judge.
Mr Sessions had "used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens" when he prosecuted voting fraud cases when he was the US attorney in Alabama," according to the letter read by Ms Warren.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cut her off, saying that she broke a Senate rule that "impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama."
"Mr President, I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate. I ask leave of the Senate to continue my remarks," the Massachusetts senator responded.
Senators voted 49-43 to silence Ms Warren.
Tonight on the Senate floor, I tried to speak about why @SenatorSessions is totally unfit to serve as Attorney General.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 8, 2017
The Democrat has been a fierce critic of President Donald Trump since he launched his presidential campaign. Democrats have expressed concern about Mr Sessions' record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform.
Many civil rights and immigration groups also have concerns about Mr Sessions with the American Civil Liberties Union saying his positions on gay rights, capital punishment, abortion rights and presidential authority in times of war should be examined.
Mr Sessions was a federal prosecutor in 1986 when he became only the second nominee in 50 years to be denied confirmation as a federal judge.
This came after allegations that he had made racist remarks, including testimony that he had called an African-American prosecutor "boy," an allegation Mr Sessions has denied.
He said he was not a racist, but said at his hearing in 1986 that groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union could be considered "un-American."
He also acknowledged he had called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation."
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