The administration feels like it has the advantage — and plans to press the pace in April.
With small cracks emerging in the
Republican Supreme Court blockade — and private indications from some
GOP senators that they’d likely back Merrick Garland if he ever did come
up for a vote — the White House is preparing to press its perceived
political advantage when senators return from their recess next week.
The next month will be all about meetings: The Supreme Court nominee
will have met with 10 senators as of Wednesday, and the White House is
looking to load his schedule full with the 52 additional senators
(including 16 Republicans) who’ve said publicly they’ll see the judge
once they're back from the two-week break.
That will bring them to the next, one-week recess in May. Once
senators get back from that time in their home states, the White House
will shift its focus to calling for hearings: Garland has met with
everybody who’s been willing to see him, they’ll argue, including a
majority of the Senate.
"It’s a game of inches at this point, but if you continue to put
inches on the board, you cover some distance,” said one White House
aide.
White House aides say they have been surprised that they’ve made as
much progress as they have in the two weeks since President Barack Obama
nominated Garland.
And while they’re still skeptical Garland will get
anywhere near being confirmed, the West Wing does at least see a path
forward, if only for strengthening the case they'll make against
Republican senators going into the fall elections.
The calendar will inform the strategy throughout: The administration
thinks it can capitalize on the end of the current Supreme Court term in
June — and the possibility of more high-profile decisions deadlocking
on 4-4 splits — coming just before the Senate’s summer recess.
None of this eliminates the White House’s fundamental problem: Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Judiciary Chairman
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have been very clear they’re not moving.
That’s despite the hammering Grassley’s been taking from Iowa newspapers.
Asked after a town hall Monday in Ocheyedan, Iowa, whether he feels
he’s doing the right thing, amid all the questions and pressure about
obstruction at home, Grassley expressed confidence.
“I’m being consistent with the past history of people in both political parties speaking out on this issue,” he said.
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