In case you are unaware, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) staged an impressive 13-hour filibuster on Wednesday of John Brennan’s nomination by President Obama to head up the Central Intelligence Agency. The filibuster was in response to a white paper issued by Attorney General Eric Holder, who implied that it was within the President’s constitutional authority to use lethal force via drone strike against an American citizen without due process.
A condensed 3-minute version of the filibuster is below, courtesy of ABC News:
About 24 hours after Senator Paul finally yielded the floor, several conclusions are clear:
1. Senator Paul got the answer he sought all along. Attorney General Holder reversed his original statement in response to Senator Paul’s filibuster, with a terse two-sentence letter, claiming that the President does not have the authority to kill Americans not engaged in combat on U.S. soil.
2. Senator Paul managed to get some positive media attention and bipartisan support along the way. Praise has come from prominent voices in the media that would otherwise be mum on or critical of Senator Paul’s political stances. Journalists like James Fallows of The Atlantic and Gail Collins of The New York Times praised Senator Paul for using the filibuster not to necessarily obstruct, but to focus attention on a pivotal civil rights issue in our time. Even Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) crossed the aisle to join Senator Paul in the filibuster, a symbolic gesture of no small significance.
3. Senator Paul is looking to the future. The filibuster may be a litmus test for Senator Paul’s future political ambitions. He was able to light the Twittersphere ablaze with the trending hashtag #StandWithRand, in large part because public opinion backed his move. According to a Fox News Poll from last month, 63 percent of U.S. citizens are opposed to giving the President unilateral power to use lethal force against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil. Election 2016 could not come soon enough for the junior Senator from Kentucky.
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