title:  This Is The First Sign Republicans Are Already Crumbling On The Supreme Court
text: Senate Republicans have publicly said they are refusing to give Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a fair hearing and an up or down vote that has been afforded to others in a similar position for decades. But on Friday came the first sign that political pressure over the court is getting to some in the party.Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois is up for re-election in a state that voted overwhelmingly for President Obama in 2012, and he has now become the first to give in.Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk took shot at his Republican colleagues on Friday for refusing to hold a Senate hearing and vote on President Barack Obama s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Just man up and cast a vote. The tough thing about these senatorial jobs is you get yes or no votes,  Kirk told  The Big John Howell Show  on Chicago s WLS-AM.  Your whole job is to either say yes or no and explain why. Kirk realizes that he needs some Democrats to back him in his race against Rep. Tammy Duckworth, and that his own party s petulant insistence to not even give Judge Garland a hearing is hurting them.Garland was nominated in part due to past statements from Republicans like Senator Orrin Hatch, who said his strong record and credentials would make him worthy of a nomination and consideration by Republicans, even if nominated by a Democrat.In other ways Republicans have begun to crumble on Garland. They originally said they wouldn t even meet with him, as is customary for nominees. But now some Senate Republicans have decided that the optics of refusing to answer the door when Garland comes calling would make for bad television and fodder for Democrats in the fall election.Republicans are being squeezed even further with the news that front-running presidential candidate Donald Trump also believes that Garland s nomination should be rejected out of hand without hearings. As polls show Trump could be a drag on the party in the fall, they are being forced to demonstrate ways that they aren t marching in lockstep with him, and in fact working towards a situation where Trump is the one picking the next Supreme Court justice.Their kneejerk opposition to the nomination offered by Obama is going to have to last for about nine months, and as Kirk has shown, that may be impossible in the long run.Featured image via Flickr