"There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer," said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as he began speaking on the Senate floor at 1:18pm Eastern time yesterday. "That time is now, and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged."

Paul held the floor for more than 10 hours, preventing any votes from being held. Paul was ultimately joined by a group of 10 other Senators, seven of them Democrats, including Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). While the speeches caused a delay of any other business, it technically wasn't a "filibuster" of the Patriot Act reauthorization, since that bill wasn't on the Senate floor. The Associated Press called the series of speeches a "lengthy Senate talk," with no clear outcome. A vote on a trade bill scheduled for this morning was not delayed, since the speeches ended just before midnight last night.

The question of what the "filibuster" did is fundamentally unknown because it would require reading the mind of Rand's fellow Kentuckian, Republican Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. If McConnell was going to push for a quick vote on his bill for a "clean" reauthorization of the Patriot Act, then Paul gummed up the works. But that probably wouldn't have happened anyway, since the House is departing for the holiday weekend at 3:00pm today.

Still, the large and unexpected delay caused by Paul and his supporters puts the Senate in a major time crunch, which some observers have argued will have political effects.

The delay may have put the Senate into a situation in which it can't consider any bill except for the House-passed USA Freedom Act, which limits bulk surveillance, between now and Saturday due to complex procedural rules explained by Sean Vitka at Sunlight Foundation. It pushes Congress closer to a situation where there are only two choices: the tepid reforms of the USA Freedom Act, passed by the House last week, or the expiration of the Patriot Act.

And while the Patriot Act won't sunset until June 1, a Justice Department memo went out yesterday explaining that the National Security Agency "will need to begin taking steps to wind down the bulk telephone metadata program" on May 22—that is, tomorrow. That's the same day as a deadline that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court gave to the Obama Administration to submit an application to renew the bulk data collection program, which must be reauthorized every 90 days.

Marcy Wheeler suggests there could have been a deal in place, noting that Paul stopped 11 minutes before midnight. "In other words, McConnell could have, but didn’t, file cloture on his short-term reauthorization last night," she writes. Wheeler's theory continues:

It’s quite possible that the Senators from KY made an agreement to get themselves out of holes they had created for themselves, Paul, in pushing against the bill, and McConnell, in leveraging such that sunset of Section 215 became a real possibility. By appearing to be left with no choice but USAF, McConnell could then whip it, and ensure it passes, to be quickly sent to Obama for signature. If McConnell really whipped it, Paul could even cast a symbolic vote against it.

Whatever the case, something has to give in the next 10 days. A path to a vote simply renewing bulk surveillance is very hard to see.