Supreme Court choice sets up election year test

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's selection of federal appeals Judge Merrick B. Garland to serve on the Supreme Court launches an election year tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats to determine the direction of the divided court as it faces down hot-button issues like abortion, affirmative action and environmental rules.

GOP Senate leaders vowed not to even consider the judge, preferring to leave the seat open in hopes that a Republican wins the White House and makes a choice more to their liking.

But if the public puts on enough pressure, it's perhaps possible senators still will hold pre-election confirmation hearings, experts say.

More likely - but still a thorny issue - is that senators could still consider Garland in the lame-duck session after the November elections if the presidential contest doesn't turn out the way they want.

Some small fissures started appearing in the Republican rampart almost immediately after Obama announced his choice of Garland, the 63-year-old District of Columbia Court of Appeals' chief judge.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a man noted for his calm demeanor, delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor reiterating the point he made mere hours after the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia last month that the next president should have the say so.

'The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates, whoever that might be,” McConnell said.

As he spoke, he was flanked by members of his leadership team, Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas and Conference Vice Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, as well as Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch of Utah, a former Judiciary chairman himself.

But the dynamics of the 2016 presidential race have cast a pall over the business of this Congress. And as GOP front-runner Donald Trump racks up delegates in the nomination contest, some Republicans, including those close to McConnell and on Grassley's panel, want to leave themselves a way out.

'I'd probably be open to resolving this in the lame duck,” Hatch said. Later he clarified, 'I'm open to it, that doesn't mean I'm for it.”

Even before the nomination was announced in a Rose Garden ceremony, there were TV ads targeting senators, partisans raising money off the conflict and opposition researchers digging for information.

The conservative Judicial Crisis Network - which earlier branded another court possibility, Judge Jane Kelly of Cedar Rapids as a 'liberal extremist” - announced it already began a 'seven-figure television, radio and digital advertising campaign” urging senators to delay.

In the Rose Garden ceremony, Obama tried to convey an above-the-fray tone.

'It is tempting to make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divided politics, the squabbling that's going on in the news every day,” Obama said. 'But to go down that path would be wrong. It would be a betrayal of our best traditions and a betrayal of the vision of our founding documents.”

The White House has contacted all 100 Senate offices and has already heard from several Republicans who say they would be willing to meet with Garland, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Garland will start making his traditional Capitol Hill courtesy visits Thursday, visiting individual senators in their offices.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and James Inhofe of Oklahoma - all Republicans - said they would meet with him.

McConnell told Garland in a call that he would not meet with him. 'But he wished Judge Garland well,” the senator's office said.

Some disappointed liberal advocates said Obama chose a moderate nominee who would be acceptable to Republicans, passing over other, more exciting choices.

But conservative groups immediately called Garland 'a partisan liberal with a record even he would envy.”

The Harvard Law School graduate has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997.

He was confirmed to the post with some Republican support on a 76-23 vote and now serves as its chief judge.

Republicans currently control the judiciary panel with an 11-9 majority, and its members include some of Obama's most strident critics - such as Texas senator and presidential contender Ted Cruz.

The McClatchy Washington Bureau and CQ-Roll Call contributed to this report.