Call the GOP’s bluff on Merrick Garland

President Obama’s job approval rating in the latest Washington Post- ABC News Poll stands at a robust 53%. Other recent polls from Monmouth University and CNN/ ORC respectively show a 56% and 54% approval rating.

He should use this political capital to pressure the Senate on his Supreme Court nominee.

While Obama’s popularity at this stage of his presidency closely mirrors the second terms of Presidents Reagan and Clinton, it has been more than 150 days since he nominated Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat of Justice Antonin Scalia.

On July 20, Garland officially broke the record of Justice Louis Brandeis, who endured a wait of 125 days between nomination and confirmation to the court.

Given Obama’s strong job approval rating and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s sizable leads in national and battleground- state polls, he should channel Republican nominee Donald Trump and pen his own Art of the Deal. He could do this by telling Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that he’ll withdraw the Garland nomination unless hearings are underway by Sept. 6, when the Senate reconvenes after Labor Day.

Grassley would be forced into a tight political corner.

Garland is 63 years old and has a fairly centrist record of deciding cases. Assuming that Clinton remains a prohibitive favorite to win the general election and would get to make her own appointment to the Supreme Court, she might renominate Garland if Obama withdraws him from consideration.

On the other hand, Clinton would certainly have the opportunity to choose a younger and more liberal nominee. Paul Watford, Sri Srinivasan, Mariano- Florentino Cuéllar, Lucy Koh, Cory Booker, Goodwin Liu, Neal Katyal and Ketanji Brown Jackson are all politically further to the left than Garland — and all of them are younger than 50.

Faced with this ultimatum and dose of reality, the prospect of Garland hearings in September could become more appealing to Grassley, who is in a re- election battle of his own in Iowa.

In late June, the American Bar Association completed its months- long review of Garland’s professional qualifications and deemed him “well qualified,” which is its highest possible rating. In addition to the ABA, a bipartisan coalition of politicians and legal aficionados have vouched for Garland’s qualifications and record.

Though Grassley hasn’t expressed an inclination to convene public hearings, Obama should use his political strength and the lopsided state of the presidential race to force Grassley to seriously contemplate acting on the stalled Garland nomination, and the possible consequences if he does not.

For Obama, it would be a shrewd and calculated political move from a position of strength that could help cement the legacy of a president with only five months remaining in office.