Booker’s All-Night Filibuster Shows He Has Endurance, But No Solutions
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) launched an overnight talking filibuster at 7 p.m. on Monday, and as of 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, he was still speaking.
Before he took to the Senate floor, Booker posted a message on X captioned, “Time to speak up,” in which he vowed to continue speaking “for as long as I am physically able.”
I’ve been hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment. And so we all have a responsibility, I believe, to do something different, to cause — as [late Rep.] John Lewis said — ‘good trouble,’ and that includes me.
“In just 71 days, the president has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy, and any sense of common decency,” Booker railed. “These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.”
Booker used the floor to sharply criticize President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the spending cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency, which he believes show a “complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people.”
At 4:43 a.m., Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) briefly stepped away from the Senate chamber to share his perspective. It was unclear whether he was addressing reporters or simply recording a video for social media—most likely the latter.
Either way, Murphy, who has clearly begun a ghost campaign for his party’s 2028 presidential nomination, assured us that Booker’s premise was “sound and important.” It was neither.
According to Murphy, Booker was taking a stand against President Donald Trump’s so-called Medicaid cuts, as well as what he described as Trump’s “corruption” and “lawlessness.”
“What Donald Trump is doing is not normal, and so we can’t normalize it,” Murphy said. “So this all-night filibuster with Sen. Booker, that I’m helping him with, hopefully it rallies the consciences of our colleagues, hopefully it helps explain to America the urgency of this moment.”
Here are a couple of clips from the night:
I disagree that Klobuchar sounds “plastered.” Tired perhaps, buffoonish, and certainly not at the top of her game, but not drunk.
But perhaps more notable than what Senator Booker said during his marathon speech is what he left out. He made no mention, for example, of the ongoing violence at Tesla dealerships, the Democrat in Boise, Idaho, who allegedly struck a Trump supporter with his car on Saturday, or the man in Flagstaff, Arizona, who reportedly boxed in and repeatedly punched a 61-year-old female Tesla driver.
He also omitted any reference to the Biden administration’s issuance of Social Security numbers to non-citizens, the billions in waste and fraud already uncovered by DOGE, or the assault on executive power from a growing number of partisan federal judges in an effort to block Trump from implementing his agenda.
According to the Congressional Research Service, Senate rules allow Booker to speak for as long as he is physically able to. A senator “usually cannot be forced to cede the floor, or even be interrupted, without their consent.”
Typically, filibusters are used to delay a vote on a specific bill or nominee a party or a politician finds objectionable. But NPR points out that neither applies in Booker’s case.
Perhaps Booker’s stunt was an attempt to divert attention from the relentless malfeasance of a party that no longer stands for anything beyond hate and obstruction—a party whose only unifying message seems to be “Trump is evil.” The Democratic Party’s collective case of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” has left little room for actual governance or for advancing the will of the people they were elected to represent.
Democrats now oppose policies that enjoy broad public support, adopting positions that defy logic. What are they even fighting for?
They stand against the deportation of South American criminal gang members, oppose DOGE’s efforts to eliminate waste and fraud within our bloated and corrupt federal government, and reject bans on biological males competing in women’s sports. Each of these positions is indefensible—and increasingly out of step with the American public.
Still, Booker has shown impressive stamina throughout the night—it’s just unfortunate he doesn’t channel that energy into efforts that might actually improve the lives of everyday Americans.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY