With A Nod To America's Civil Rights Legacy, Sen. Cory Booker Makes A Mark Of His Own

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker ended his record-setting speech the same way he began it, more than 25 hours earlier: by invoking the words of his mentor, the late congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.

"He endured beatings savagely on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, at lunch counters, on freedom rides. He said he had to do something. He would not normalize a moment like this," Booker said of Lewis' work as a young activist during the Civil Rights movement. "He would not just go along with business as usual."

"He said for us to go out and cause some good trouble, necessary trouble, to redeem the soul of our nation," Booker said.

A break from "business as usual" was what Booker had in mind as he performed a feat of political endurance, holding the Senate floor for 25 hours and 5 minutes while delivering a wide-ranging critique of President Donald Trump and his policies.

In doing so, Booker of New Jersey broke the record for longest Senate floor speech, a mark that had belonged for decades to Strom Thurmond, the avowed segregationist from South Carolina who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Booker said he'd been aware of Thurmond's record since first coming to the Senate in 2013 - a room near the Senate chamber is still named for him - and it bothered him.