To the Editor:

Re “Republicans Vote to Formally Silence Warren” (news article, Feb. 8):

The Republican silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren on the Senate floor was shameful. That Senator Warren was silenced for reading a letter from the civil rights leader Coretta Scott King that spoke to the unfitness of Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general because of his use of “the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens” is outrageous.

Is this how Republican leaders honor Black History Month?

As a white American, I am disgusted and disappointed. Black lives matter, and black words matter, too. Republicans, you owe all Americans an apology for this un-American action taken on the Senate floor.

KATHARINE JONES

Concord, N.H.

To the Editor:

In silencing Senator Elizabeth Warren during debate on the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, made it clear that it is far more offensive for a woman to call out a powerful white man for his historically documented racism than for the white man to have a history of racism.

This is a sad day in 21st-century America.

MINTA KEYES

Tucson

To the Editor:

We should be thankful that Senator Jeff Sessions was not a nominee for the Supreme Court, if senators are not permitted to criticize a fellow senator during a confirmation hearing.

INGA KARLINER

Urbana, Ill.