Cory Booker Did Not Use the Bathroom Once During His 25-Hour Filibuster

There were many remarkable things about Cory Booker's decision to speak on the floor of the Senate for 25 straight hours. In addition to the fact that Booker sounded both coherent and like he hadn't lost his voice even by the end of that stretch, there were also many with logistical questions about how this sort of filibuster actually works.

Did Cory get to eat anything while he was on the floor? Did he get to drink anything? And maybe most importantly, did he get to use the bathroom? Here's what we know about the rules around the talking filibuster and using the bathroom.

Once you take the Senate floor and begin speaking, the only breaks you are allowed come from giving other senators the chance to ask questions. Booker took full advantage of those breaks, but not to go to the bathroom. If he had left the floor of the Senate to pee, he would have relinquished his right to continue speaking. So he didn't go to the bathroom for 25 straight hours. He was also not allowed to sit down.

To prepare, Booker stopped eating on Friday and stopped hydrating on Sunday, meaning that his body was essentially empty for his marathon speech. As a result, the temptation to leave the floor may have been reduced, but what's staggering is the commitment it must have taken to withhold food and water for such an extended period, only to take the floor and sound as coherent and healthy as he did for as long as he did.

Booker's filibuster, which lasted 25 hours and four minutes, broke a record that was previously held by Strom Thurmond, who took to the Senate floor in 1957 to protest the Civil Rights Act. It's fitting that Booker, a Black senator, broke a record held by a man who would have vehemently protested his presence in the Senate to begin with.

What's just as noteworthy is that, while many of the longest Senate filibusters in history have involved people reading Green Eggs & Ham or an encyclopedia, Booker's speech was built almost entirely out of substance. It seems likely that he repeated a few key points over the course of the speech, but his ultimate goal seems to have been to call attention to what he sees as the dangers of Trump's second administration.

Even more remarkably, Booker joined Rachel Maddow's show just an hour after he finished speaking to talk about his filibuster and what he was hoping to accomplish. He could have decided to take a nap, but instead he decided to do some more talking.

Booker's remarkable preparation for the marathon speech suggests that it had been in the works for some time. He was hearing from constituents who told him he needed to act, and so he decided to do so in one of the most dramatic fashions imaginable.