Update February 9:

On Tuesday, the Washington Post obtained the full letter written by Coretta Scott King in opposition of Jeff Sessions's 1986 nomination to a federal judgeship. Although the letter was previously unavailable, it is now openly available for the world to read. 

Previous January 10:

We’re under a week away from Martin Luther King Day, however his influence and life work remains relevant year-round. The same can be said about Coretta Scott King.

Today (January 10), confirmation hearings were underway for Donald Trump’s pick for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. Mostly House and Senate Democrats pounded Senator Sessions on his past involvement in civil rights cases and his overall philosophy on racial equality.

Sessions attempted a bid at a federal judgeship in 1986 but was denied for his racial bias against people of color and, more specifically, because of a damning letter Coretta Scott King penned that same year.

As the Senate was considering the nomination of Jeff Sessions for federal judge, members of the Judiciary Committee were presented the letter that blasted Sessions for allegedly using racial slurs and using his position as a U.S. attorney to target civil rights activists in Alabama.

Eventually, the late Howell Heflin would shock the Senate and vote against his home state senator, denying his confirmation. Judiciary Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond, a known segregationist, never put the letter into the congressional record and the contents of the letter aren’t well known.

It’s unclear as to why the letter was never entered into the record. Buzzfeed reached out to Chairman Chuck Grassley’s office in an attempt to have the letter released. Sources close to the office claim that Democratic members’ hands are tied by committee rules that give Grassley the sole authority to release the letter.

Convenient for Jeff Sessions that the letter isn’t going public now, isn’t it? See a snippet of Senator Sessions’s confirmation hearing in which he gets caught lying about his term as Alabama’s attorney general and reaction to Coretta King's letter disappearing below.