Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul is pledging to remain at the lectern in the Senate chamber as long as it takes in order to filibuster President Barack Obama's nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency John O. Brennan.
Brennan, a longtime counterterrorism advisor to the president, has been chosen to replace acting director Michael Morrell, who was installed after the departure of General David Petraeus due to circumstances of an alleged affair between the him and his biographer.
"I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm 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." Paul declared on the Senate floor.
Paul's actions are mostly due to a letter sent to him by Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., which states that the administration would not rule out executing drone strikes on persons within the confines of the United States. In the decision, previously covered by the Latin Times, Paul said should trouble the American people who now know the government may have the ability to use such brutal force at whim.
"I will speak today until the president responds and says, 'No, we won't kill Americans in cafes. No, we won't kill you at home at night," he said, calling on the president to reverse his plan or have any future appointments and motions held up in the Capitol. "It's not really about John Brennan; it's about a Constitutional principle. We're willing to delay this until the President can explicitly answer that non-combatants in America will not be killed in drone strikes," he continued in his fourth hour on the Senate floor.
According to the Washington Times, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Obama will expand on the idea in a yet-unscheduled speech to the American people. He also said however, that he is unsure whether Mr. Paul and his Congressional colleagues could officially ban the activity.
Senator Paul did not exclusively concentrate on the White House, but had choice words for even some of his allies.
"If there were an ounce of courage in this body I would be joined by other senators saying they will not tolerate this," he said of his fellow legislators.
He also darkly remarked about any possible administration "kill list."
"[One of] the people on the list might be me!"
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