The next few hours will be pretty dramatic on the floor of the United States Senate: The body has called a rare Sunday session, because if they don't do something before midnight, three controversial provisions of the Patriot Act will expire.
The most controversial is Section 215, which the White House has used to scoop up Americans' call records in bulk.
As Sen. Harry Reid, the body's minority leader explained, the Senate can only do one thing tonight: Pass a bill authored by the House that allows the program to continue, but the phone records will now stay with the phone companies.
The big issue, here, is that Senate rules allow a single senator to significantly delay the passage of a bill.
That's where Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul comes in. He will without a doubt be the protagonist — or antagonist depending on where your stand on the debate — of tonight, because he has promised to force those three provisions of the Patriot Act to expire.
So, expect a lot of drama in the form of parliamentary maneuvering.
We'll update this post often as the night goes on, so make sure to refresh the page. We'll be here through the midnight deadline.
Update at 5:56 p.m. ET. What To Expect:
Right now the Senate is in recess. Both parties are meeting to discuss how to go forward. When the Senate returns, we expect a series of votes to reconsider HR 2048 — or the House's USA Freedom Act.
The Senate had already failed to move that measure forward earlier this month.
Update at 5:48 p.m. ET. Early Drama:
It did not take long for the drama to get started. About an hour into the session, Sen. Rand Paul asked to speak for five minutes. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a fellow Republican, shot down him and Sen. John McCain, another fellow Republican, suggested Paul should learn the rules of the Senate.
That's when Paul called for a live quorum — a roll call that determines whether a majority of the Senate is in the chamber to continue doing business. To speed things, the live quorum was called off and Paul was given his five minutes.
"This in important debate," Paul said. "This is a debate over the bill of rights, over the fourth amendment... It is a debate over your right to be left alone."
Paul said that the surveillance programs put in place by Section 215 were illegal. Then he issued a warning: "I'm not going to take it anymore."
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