Senator Cory Booker’s marathon speech passes the 24-hour mark
UPDATE 4:50 p.m. - Senator Cory Booker has officially broken the record for longest continuous speech in the senate. He has spoken for over 24 hours and 19 minutes.
The previous record holder was Senator Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes while talking about the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
WASHINGTON (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Cory Booker's (D-NJ) marathon speech on the Senate floor reached the 12-hour mark Tuesday morning.
Booker began speaking at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Monday night in protest over President Donald Trump's actions involving immigration and other issues since taking office.
The New Jersey senator said the nation is in a crisis and that he plans to disrupt the normal business of the Senate "for as long as I am physically able."
"But the President we have right now doesn't seem to be coming to this body with any kind of bold bipartisan legislation to solve the problems of our nation, to cobble together the common ground of this country on immigration. No, he is not acting like that. He is using language like presidential primacy. He's defending his corrupt practices in immigration by saying things like presidential primacy. He's invoking the alien enemies act. He's evoking the alien enemies act, an act from the 1700s to deny due process, which Anton Scalia, a textualist, says that whether you're born in this country or not, you have due process here.
if someone is willing to violate the Constitution for some, it endangers the constitutional rights for us all. Do not think this is, oh, those people, if they are violating rights of some, it is a threat to the rights of all. I am standing here because of a national crisis that is growing. We talked about Social Security, we talked about health care, we talked about education. This is a crisis for us."
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
The speech is not considered a filibuster because Booker is not blocking legislation or a nomination.
The record for longest speech by a senator was given by Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC), who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act in 1957.
