WASHINGTON â" A small group of Republicans, led by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, stalled the Senate on Wednesday by waging a nine-hours-and-counting, old-school, speak-until-you-can-speak-no-more filibuster over the governmentâs use of lethal drone strikes â" forcing the Senate to delay the expected confirmation of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Paul, who opposes Mr. Brennanâs nomination, followed through on his plan to filibuster the confirmation of President Obamaâs nominee after receiving a letter this month from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that refused to rule out the use of drone strikes within the United States in âextraordinary circumstancesâ like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
On Wednesday, Mr. Paul did exactly as promised, taking to the Senate floor shortly before noon and holding forth. Now moving toward its 10th hour, Mr. Paul and his comrades on the Senate floor show no signs of wear.
Ostensibly, Mr. Paul is objecting to the Mr. Brennanâs nomination. But in fact, Mr. Paulâs main concerns are those of civil liberties and Constitutional rights he says are under attack by the administrationâs potential use of unmanned drone strikes on American citizens on United States soil. (Mr. Brennan, who as the White House counterterrorism adviser was the chief architect of the largely clandestine drone program, served as a good proxy.)
âWhat will be the standard for how we kill Americans in Americaâ Mr. Paul asked at one point. âCould political dissent be part of the standard for drone strikesâ
Referring to Jane Fonda, who went to North Vietnam during the war there to publicly denounce the United Statesâ presence in the country, Mr. Paul added: âIâm not a great fan of Jane Fonda. But Iâm not so interested in putting her on a drone kill list.! â
As Mr. Paulâs filibuster dragged on, it began to resemble a Shakespearean drama, complete with cameos from other A-list actors (a group of more than half a dozen senators who periodically joined him on the floor); a title all its own (the âfiliblizzard,â a nickname courtesy of Twitter users); and some willing extras (eager Senate pages, purposefully striding across the stage to deliver Mr. Paul fresh glasses of water).
Although Mr. Paul did not yield the floor â" a move that would effectively end his talkathon â" he did, with some apparent relief, yield to take questions from his Republican colleagues. (Mr. Paul could not leave the floor to use the bathroom, making his filibuster at a certain point seem less a standoff between Mr. Paul and the administration than a battle between Mr. Paul and his own bladder.)
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, began his question by making the obvious allusion, referring to Mr. Paul as a âmodern-day âMr. Smth Goes to Washington,â â joking that his effort would âsurely be making Jimmy Stewart smile.â
And, perhaps befitting of another public â" but hopeless â" stand, Mr. Cruz took the opportunity to remind the chamber that Wednesday was the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo, noting with some pride that Mr. Paul âis originally from the great state of Texas.â
Mr. Cruz then proceeded to read from a letter by William Barrett Travis, a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army who died at the Alamo, concluding, âDoes that glorious letter give you any encouragement and sustenance on this 177th anniversary of the Alamoâ
Apparently it did. Mr. Paul soldiered ahead, before again receiving some help, from an unlikely source â" Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon.
Mr. Wyden said that while he had voted in favor of Mr. Brennanâs nomination on Tuesday at a Senate Intelligence Committee meeting and planned to vote for him again on the Senate floor, he believed that Mr. Paul! âhas m! ade a number of important pointsâ about the administrationâs lethal drone program.
âI think Senator Paul and I agree that this nomination also provides a very important opportunity for the United States Senate to consider the governmentâs rules and policies on the targeted killings of Americans and that, of course, has been a central pillar of our nationâs counterterror strategy,â Mr. Wyden said.
He added, âThe executive branch should not be allowed to conduct such a serious and far-reaching program by themselves without any scrutiny, because thatâs not how American democracy works.â
Up next was Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, entering stage right, complete with a water joke â" a reference to his State of the Union response, in which a video of a parched Mr. Rubio chugging water quickly went viral.
âYouâve been here for a while, so let me give you some advice,â Mr. Rubio said. âKeep some water nearby. Trust me.â
Other members who made caeos throughout the day â" and night â" included the Republican Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming; Saxby Chambliss of Georgia; John Cornyn of Texas; Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois; Mike Lee of Utah; and Jerry Moran of Kansas.
As the filibuster continued into the evening, Mr. Paul moved from speaking extemporaneously to relying more on two thick black binders of notes, heavily referencing and reading from articles in publications ranging from The Washington Post to The Wall Street Journal to Wired magazine.
At one point, Mr. Paul began eating âdinnerâ â" a mystery candy bar â" and continued his filibuster between mouthfuls of chocolate.
A bit later, Mr. Kirk, who walks with considerable effort after a stroke in 2012, slowly made his way onto the floor with the help of a walker. He placed a green thermos of tea and an apple on the desk of Mr. Paul, gestured to it, and saluted his colleague before talking a seat to watch some of the proceeding.
In the filibusterâs seventh ! hour, it ! looked as if a compromise might be reached. Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the No. 2 leader in the Senate, and some of his aides came to the floor, seeming ready to help wrap things up. Mr. Paul said he would agree to stop his nonstop talking if his colleagues would unanimously consent to a nonbinding vote on a resolution saying it is unconstitutional to kill an American on United States soil â" a move to which Mr. Durbin objected. Mr. Durbin offered instead to hold a hearing on drone strikes, which Mr. Paul brushed aside.
And so, on it went.
Mr. Cruz then made a brief return for a second act of sorts, to read from a list of Twitter messages about Mr. Paulâs stand that he had culled. Though electronic devices are not allowed on the Senate floor, Mr. Cruz informed his friend that Twitter was âblowing upâ over the dayâs events.
âI was getting kind of tired,â Mr. Paul said, thanking Mr. Cruz for âcheering me up.â
Mr. Paul again said his true goal ws simply to get a response from the administration saying it would not use drone strikes to take out American citizens on United States soil â" and, perhaps with Twitter still in the forefront of his mind, offered Mr. Holder a variety of ways to respond.
âWeâll take a telegram,â Mr. Paul said. âWeâll take a Tweet.â