WASHINGTON: A Democratic US lawmaker shattered a record for the longest speech in Senate history on Tuesday, sta­ying on his feet for more than 25 hours to deliver a fiery protest against President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” actions.

Senator Cory Booker’s display of endurance — to hold the floor he had to remain standing and could not even go to the bathroom — recalled the famous scene in Frank Capra’s 1939 film classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” The longest Senate speech on record before Tuesday was delivered by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker, only the fourth Black senator to be popularly elected to the body, blew past that deadline, his voice still strong but emotional as he topped out at 25 hours and five minutes.

“Strom Thurmond’s record always… really irked me,” he later told broadcaster MSNBC. “That the longest speech on our great Senate floor was someone who was trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate.”

The public galleries of the Senate chamber gradually filled as the moment he broke the record approached, with more Democratic lawmakers joining the session — although Republicans largely stayed away. “This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong,” Booker said as he wrapped up.

He also quoted his mentor John Lewis, a 1960s civil rights movement leader, who urged campaigners to get into “good trouble,” before finally pronouncing “Madam President, I yield the floor.”

The 55-year-old New Jersey native had found a moment for some humor as he passed the record, joking: “I want to go a little bit past this and then I’m going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2025