Sixteen Republican senators have come out in favor of meeting with Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, which appears to show that the wall of resistance by Republicans in the Senate is starting to give way.
Those sixteen Republicans are one-fourth of the Republican population in the Senate,
reports NBC News.
Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk will be the first to meet with Garland. He is among the senators who want to meet with Garland who are seeking reelection in their states, including New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte. Kirk in a
radio interview said Republicans should "man up and cast a vote."
Others in favor include South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds and senators from Oklahoma, Alaska, and Kansas.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who said he opposed Garland but would meet with him, said, "I don't see what the point would be."
Sen. Kirk goes further than the meeting. He wants to hold a hearing for Garland's nomination, as does Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran.
Sen. Moran said he would prefer to reject Garland after there had been an interview and a hearing. Conservatives responded poorly to that idea,
according to MSNBC.
Activist and former Senate candidate Milton Wolf said, "Jerry Moran is living proof that Washington career politicians lie to voters and are bad at their jobs."
An increasing concern is that the Republican opposition to meeting with Garland does not reflect well on the senators. "Mitch McConnell's knee-jerk response after Justice Scalia's death is a public relations debacle for the Republican Party," said Steve Schmidt, a former strategist during John McCain's presidential run.
Democrats continue to push the Republicans on the issue. Hillary Clinton said that the party's actions are "corroding,"
reported NBC News.
The Christian Science Monitor reports, however, that filling the vacancy is not a point of major concern among voters.
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