Taking Stand Against Spying, Rand Paul Stages Senate ‘Filibuster’

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Senator Rand Paul with supporters in Philadelphia on Monday.Credit Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer, via Associated Press

Just how long can Rand Paul talk?

The Kentucky senator and Republican presidential candidate took to the Senate floor early Wednesday afternoon with plans to talk and talk — and talk — to highlight his concerns over reauthorizing portions of the Patriot Act.

The legislation his talk-a-thon could delay, the U.S.A. Freedom Act, would actually overhaul the Patriot Act — curtailing the government collection of phone records known as metadata — but Mr. Paul has cast himself as the lone Republican presidential candidate who would safeguard civil liberties, and knows that a filibuster (or, in this particular case, a fauxibuster) is an effective way to spotlight the issue.

“Its a go @RandPaul has begun filibustering patriot act extension to end NSA spying #StandWithRand,” Sergio Gor, Mr. Paul’s spokesman, wrote on Twitter.

After Mr. Paul had been speaking for roughly an hour, his campaign sent out an email, explaining his goals. “Senator Paul is a staunch defender of liberty and believes Americans have a right to privacy,” the email said. “The U.S. government has no place conducting these warrantless searches and should focus on gathering intelligence on suspected terrorists and foreign actors.”

But just how long Mr. Paul can go without getting dry mouth or needing a bathroom break will determine the effect, if any, his effort will have. The witching hour is midnight; if Mr. Paul talks into Thursday, he could briefly delay a key procedural vote on a major trade bill — at which point his speech would become an official filibuster — and more importantly, he could push back when the Senate can take up the U.S.A. Freedom Act — preventing lawmakers from heading home for the Memorial Day weekend.