Betsy DeVos was narrowly confirmed for education secretary Tuesday after Vice President Mike Pence cast a historic tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

Democrats are now pulling a similar all-nighter to delay the vote on Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions.

Democrats say Sessions, a senator from Alabama, and a former federal prosecutor, is too close to President Trump to be an effective, independent prosecutor for the state. 

They also cite his opposition to immigration laws and his stance on civil rights, including voting rights.

In 1986 Sessions was rejected for an appointment as a federal judge. One of the linchpins in that rejection was a letter by Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In it she said Sessions used his power as a federal prosecutor to "chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, was banned from speaking during the Sessions confirmation Tuesday night when she tried to read King's letter on the Senate floor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, invoked Senate rules against impugning the motives of a senator, saying Warren had impugned Sessions. 

A vote on Sessions is expected Wednesday evening.

DeVos confirmed, sworn in

Two Republican senators had joined Democrats in voting against DeVos: Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. But with Vice President Mike Pence set to break the tie vote, Democrats needed one more GOP senator to break ranks.

Pence's tiebreaking vote was the first-ever for a Cabinet appointment.

Florida's senior Sen. Bill Nelson voted against DeVos, while junior Sen. Marco Rubio voted for her.

DeVos, the daughter-in-law of Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos, was an architect of Detroit's charter school system but has little experience with public schools. She is a conservative Christian whose family helped fund the creation of the Family Research Council.

Democrats had turned to a 24-hour protest inside outside the Capitol arguing against DeVos and in a last-ditch effort to sway one more Republican lawmaker to join them in rejecting the nomination. They cited DeVos' lack of public school experience and her financial interests in organizations pushing charter schools. She has said she would divest herself from those organizations.

During her confirmation hearing, she stirred criticism and anger by suggesting that a school in Wyoming might want to have guns on campus as defense against grizzly bears.

In a tweet Tuesday, President Donald Trump wrote, "Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!"

Senate committee confirms VA nominee

Also Tuesday, a Senate committee unanimously approved physician David Shulkin's nomination as Veterans Affairs secretary. He has been the undersecretary of health at the VA since 2015. If approved by the full Senate, he would be the first nonveteran to lead the VA and the only Obama official serving in Trump's cabinet. The Senate is expected to vote and approve him as early as next week.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.