By JM Rieger

Posted March 5, 2014 at 9:12pm

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, on Wednesday called the Senate’s rejection of President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division the “lowest point” of his 30-year career.

“I don’t say that lightly,” Harkin said. “I was here during the impeachment process, trial for President [Bill] Clinton. I kind of thought that was a sham, but that didn’t compare to what happened today.”

</p> <p> Harkin, the sixth-longest serving member in the 113th Congress, criticized the Senate for what he called an “emotional vote.”  </p> <p> “I will not name any names, but I had one senator say, ‘my head tells me that he should be confirmed but my guts, my emotions say no.’ Shame, on all of us here; especially the lawyers.”  </p><script id="5e2bd50d2be64735bd9c6970a280aeab">(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9484058d-cb86-4c6b-b476-f5e62bd11798&cid=69ef7590-f88b-4a7b-b1ad-bbee64894f4f'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9484058d-cb86-4c6b-b476-f5e62bd11798" }).render("5e2bd50d2be64735bd9c6970a280aeab"); });</script></p> <p> Obama’s pick, Debo P. Adegbile, was the <a href="https://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/perils-of-nuclear-option-controversial-nominees-plague-majority/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first nominee blocked since Democrats invoked the “nuclear option”</a> in November.</p> <p></body>