Paul Concludes 13-Hour Filibuster
Republican Senator Rand Paul filibustered for 13-hours to block the Senate confirmation of John Brennan's nomination for CIA director.
Paul left the floor just shortly after midnight on early Thursday morning. Immediately after, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) filed a motion to end debate on Brennan's nomination; this yields a vote in the chamber later in the week.
Paul, the tea party favorite, has been a critic of President Obama's hotly debated drone policy. In his filibuster, he demanded that either Attorney General Eric Holder or President Barack Obama issue a statement confirming that drones would not be used in the U.S. to kill suspected terrorists who are U.S. citizens.
"No president has the right to say he is judge, jury and executioner," Paul said.
The Obama administration has denied participating in such activities within the U.S. borders.
Fellow Kentucky Republican senator and Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, also announced that he would continue to oppose the confirmation of Brennan. He said that until Holder comments on whether the Obama administration has the authority to use lethal force against a suspected terrorist who is a U.S. citizen, they will block the opportunity to fill the position of CIA director.
Paul acknowledged that he did not dispute the president's authority to take immediate action against an enemy who carried out some type of attack on the United States. However, he said he was "alarmed" at how difficult it has been to get the administration to clarify what is considered a "legitimate target on a drone strike."
"It simply doesn't have the right, and the administration should just answer the question," McConnell said. "There is no reason we cannot get this question answered today, and we should get this question answered today. Frankly, it should have been answered a long time ago."
If confirmed, Brennan would be appointed as CIA's deputy director; David Petraeus resigned from this position in November after his affair with his biographer was exposed.
Talking filibusters have become a more rare tactic used in the Senate. About a dozen other conservative senators came to the floor to take turns speaking for Paul and trading questions for Paul. Paul spent most of the 13 hours reading from notebooks filled with articles about the expanded use of the drones.
The longest individual speech on the Senate floor was made by Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina when he filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
The senator posted his filibuster on YouTube.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
