--- title: Rand Paul To Filibuster On Secret Drone Memo description: The Kentucky Republican will attempt to draw attention to Obama's drone policy during debate over the nomination of a former Justice Department official to the federal bench. canonical: https://time.com/102879/rand-paul-filibuster-obama-cia-drones/ author: Massimo Calabresi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-16T15:15:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:53:21.859Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rand Paul To Filibuster On Secret Drone Memo og:description: The Kentucky Republican will attempt to draw attention to Obama's drone policy during debate over the nomination of a former Justice Department official to the federal bench. og:url: https://time.com/102879/rand-paul-filibuster-obama-cia-drones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab6d61ed7d01fae/69868fe73bc9990d8c1a3870/rand-paul-filibuster-drones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5562 og:image:height: 3129 og:image:alt: Rand Paul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rand Paul To Filibuster On Secret Drone Memo twitter:description: The Kentucky Republican will attempt to draw attention to Obama's drone policy during debate over the nomination of a former Justice Department official to the federal bench. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab6d61ed7d01fae/69868fe73bc9990d8c1a3870/rand-paul-filibuster-drones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rand Paul To Grab Spotlight Again With Another Filibuster On Drones > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. May 16, 2014 3:15 PM UTC  Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during an event at the University of Chicago's Ida Noyes Hall in Chicago on April 22, 2014. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during an event at the University of Chicago's Ida Noyes Hall in Chicago on April 22, 2014. Andrew Nelles—AP  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. May 16, 2014 3:15 PM UTC Rand Paul returns to the national stage next week to reprise his most famous performance, filibustering a presidential nominee in a fight over the extrajudicial killing of American terrorists. Paul announced Thursday evening that he would filibuster the nomination of Harvard professor David Barron, to serve on one of the nation’s most powerful courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, because Barron authored the legal justification for drone strikes against Americans as a Justice Department official in President Obama’s first term. --- > “” --- Paul launched himself onto the mainstream national political scene with his first filibuster on this issue in March 2013 in an attempt to block the nomination of former White House counterterrorism official, John Brennan, to head the CIA. In a thirteen-hour disquisition, Paul argued that extrajudicial killings of Americans in the fight against terrorists violates the Bill of Rights. Paul is targeting Barron now because the Harvard Professor reportedly wrote at least two of the memos laying out the legal justification for the targeting of Americans when Barron headed the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department in 2011\. The OLC traditionally serves as the executive branch’s last word on questions of what is and isn’t legal. Paul’s filibuster itself will not block Barron’s confirmation. Senate majority leader Harry Reid changed the rules last year to allow the majority to override a filibuster when debating the president’s nominations to a lower court. Paul would need to swing many Democratic Senators against the nomination to succeed. Demoratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said earlier this week that some of Democratic Senators remain on the fence. The Senate is likely to vote on the nomination next week and Barron’s confirmation is still expected. Paul nevertheless stands to make some political points with the filibuster, and may also produce further disclosure by the Obama administration of the legal rationale behind the targeting of American terrorists overseas. The Obama administration is engaged in an internal debate over whether to make public the drone memos, and is moving closer to doing so, administration officials have [told](http://time.com/97613/obama-drone-memo-david-barron/) TIME. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/102879/rand-paul-filibuster-obama-cia-drones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/102879/rand-paul-filibuster-obama-cia-drones/"},"headline":"Rand Paul To Grab Spotlight Again With Another Filibuster On Drones","datePublished":"2014-05-16T15:15:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:53:21.859Z","description":"The Republican senator will aim to draw attention to President Obama's drone policy during debate over the nomination of a former Justice Department official to the federal bench, following up his 13-hour filibuster in 2013 to try to block John Brennan from going to the CIA","url":"https://time.com/102879/rand-paul-filibuster-obama-cia-drones/","keywords":["Congress","Obama","Rand Paul","Drones","Harry Reid","CIA","chuck schumer"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab6d61ed7d01fae/69868fe73bc9990d8c1a3870/rand-paul-filibuster-drones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Massimo Calabresi","jobTitle":"Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief.","url":"https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab6d61ed7d01fae/69868fe73bc9990d8c1a3870/rand-paul-filibuster-drones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rand Paul","caption":"Rand Paul","creditText":"Andrew Nelles—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/102879/rand-paul-filibuster-obama-cia-drones/","name":"Rand Paul To Grab Spotlight Again With Another Filibuster On Drones"}}]}] ```