• AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
  • NAACP lawyer Debo Adegbile outside the Supreme Court in 2009

A battle had been brewing over President Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

Yesterday, the Senate, aided by seven Democrats, blocked Adegbile’s nomination, 52-47.

Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the Republican opposition to Adegbile “an affront to what it means to live in America.”