Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, began an old-school, speak-until-you-can-speak-no-more filibuster on Wednesday just before noon, and was still going strong more than an hour later.
Mr. Paul, who opposes the nomination of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, had previously said he would filibuster President Obama’s 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 “extraordinary circumstances†like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
And on Wednesday, Mr. Paul did exactly as promised, taking to the Senate floor to filibuster Mr. Brennan’s nomination.
“I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan’s nomination for the C.I.A.,†Mr. Paul began. “I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the larm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.â€
Mr. Paul is the first senator to use an actual filibuster after the Senate reached a deal earlier this year to take some basic steps to limit the filibuster.
As of 1:30 p.m., nearly an hour and a half after he first started, as many of his young aides watched from the Senate balcony, Mr. Paul showed no signs of letting up.
