Within the walls of AHS, students stress over our 15-minute IOs. Meanwhile, on the Senate floor, Senator Cory Booker spoke for over 25 hours.
On April 1, 2025, Booker made history by delivering the longest recorded speech on the Senate Floor. While scholars debate whether his speech qualifies as a filibuster, it drew national attention to his cause against the Trump administration.
Booker’s speech began at 7:00 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2025, during the Senate debate over the nomination of Matthew Whitaker as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Booker, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, spoke at length against the nomination while periodically answering extended questions from fellow senators. His remarks concluded at 8:06 p.m. on April 1, clocking in at 25 hours and 4 minutes – the longest speech in history.
The Tradition of Senate Filibusters
The Senate has a long tradition of extended speeches used to delay or block legislative action, known as a filibuster. The official Senate says a filibuster is“a loosely defined term for action designed to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill, resolution, amendment, or other debatable question.”
However, Booker’s speech did not technically meet the criteria for a formal filibuster. Earlier that day, the Senate voted 49–42 to enact cloture on Whitaker’s nomination. Cloture is a rule established by the Senate in 1917 to limit debate on an issue, and it is invoked by a specific majority vote, capping the time allowed for further discussion. In Booker’s case, the cloture motion set a 30-hour limit for debate before the final confirmation vote.
Even so, Booker used the remaining time to make a statement, speaking under the same rules applied during a filibuster: he could not leave the floor, even for food or bathroom breaks, and he could only pause to answer lengthy questions posed by other senators.
The Historic Senate Record
Before Booker’s marathon speech, the record for longest Senate floor remarks belonged to Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in 1957 to block the Civil Rights Act. Unlike Thurmond, whose filibuster aimed to stop a bill from passing, Booker’s extended speech occurred after cloture had been invoked, meaning it couldn’t delay the final vote indefinitely.
Nonetheless, Booker’s effort reignited public interest in Senate traditions and sparked debate over whether prolonged speeches in today’s political climate are meaningful acts of protest or symbolic gestures. Some can’t help but find it ironic for Cory Booker to snatch a historic Senate record from a man who would’ve never wanted him even to set foot on the Senate floor.
Why It Matters
While Booker’s speech couldn’t block the confirmation vote for Whitaker, it drew widespread attention to both the nomination and broader concerns about the Trump administration. It also highlighted the evolving role of lengthy Senate speeches in modern American politics, especially when live broadcasts and social media amplify such acts far beyond Capitol Hill.
Following the speech, political commentators and constitutional scholars debated whether Booker’s appearance counted as a filibuster under Senate tradition. While most agreed it did not meet the official definitions of a filibuster, because it was not intended to block a vote on a piece of legislation, it undoubtedly stands as a historic moment in Senate history.
Booker’s 25-hour speech is a reminder of how individual senators can use their floor time to make statements and capture public attention, even when legislative procedures limit their ability to delay or prevent a vote. Booker’s stand will go down as the longest continuous speaking appearance in Senate history.
