"... the choices, essentially, are to confirm Garland and have another bite at the apple in a decade, or watch as President Clinton nominates someone who is radically more leftist and 10-15 years younger ..."

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RedState: ‘Confirm Merrick Garland Before It Is Too Late’
By Ian Millhiser, May 4, 2016

RedState, the influential conservative blog that has often helped shape the outcome of Republican primary elections and congressional Republican strategy, says its now time for Republicans to end their blockade of Chief Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court. “Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee, this is not even a close call,” the site tells its readers, adding that “there is absolutely no reason to drag this out any longer.”

The conservative site’s new position, penned by RedState managing editor Leon Wolf, is hardly a robust endorsement of President Obama’s nominee. “Garland is not a great choice,” Wolf writes, “but he is not a terrible one, either.” Wolf sees Garland’s primary virtue as the fact that he is unlikely to remain on the Supreme Court for very long — “he is old (for a modern Supreme Court appointment) and will be up for replacement in probably 10 years instead of 20 or 30.”

That fact, Wolf writes, argues in favor of confirming Garland before he is replaced with someone else:

Republicans must know that there is absolutely no chance that we will win the White House in 2016 now. They must also know that we are likely to lose the Senate as well. So the choices, essentially, are to confirm Garland and have another bite at the apple in a decade, or watch as President Clinton nominates someone who is radically more leftist and 10-15 years younger, and we are in no position to stop it.

This unqualified call for Republicans to change strategy could be an important development in the battle over the Supreme Court. From the moment Justice Antonin Scalia’s death created a vacancy on the Supreme Court, Senate Republicans were hemmed in by conservative interest groups that demanded maximal resistance to anyone President Obama named to fill this vacant seat. RedState, however, historically has been aligned with the factions that demand scorched earth tactics. So Wolf’s call for Garland’s confirmation suggests that even the most hardline Republicans could soften their position now that Trump is the nominee.

The question, however, is whether such softening will matter. Especially in a post-Citizens United world, it is very easy for interest groups to raise enough money to harass senators and to back a credible primary challenger in that senator’s next race. Thus, even if the overwhelming majority of movement conservatives break in favor of a Garland confirmation, Senate Republicans may still be spooked by small, minority factions that cling to their demands for maximal opposition.
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