The conservative movement and Republican politicians are more unified than they have been in a long time in their opposition to the nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. It isn’t often that you see the Tea Party Patriots and the RNC reading off the same song sheet. Right now they are singing the praises of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who is facing serious pressure from Senate Democrats.

My organization, the Judicial Crisis Network, has also been praising Grassley and others for letting the people decide the future of the Supreme Court this November. However you define the Republican “establishment,” it’s on the same page, too. The fact of the matter is that Republican senators haven’t been this united on a judicial nomination in at least a decade. All of the presidential candidates want to let the people decide.

To be sure, we can expect to see some endorsements of Garland for reasons of self-interest or self-preservation. Some Republicans, and some of the well-established members of the Supreme Court bar in particular, will label Garland a moderate and welcome his confirmation, just as they did in the Kagan and Sotomayor nominations. They will line up to defend a member of their elite club, in front of whom they argue cases regularly. And just as before, the White House will use these endorsements as proof – proof! – that Garland is acceptable to conservatives.

The rest of us would have to live with the consequences of a liberal Supreme Court, like abolition of the individual right to own firearms for self-defense, a compromised right to political speech through reversal of Citizens United, and vastly increased power wielded by unelected government bureaucrats in administrative agencies. Americans who depend on the coal industry for jobs or affordable energy will lose their jobs if Garland rubber-stamps the out-of-control and unaccountable EPA. That’s why conservatives are standing shoulder to shoulder with Republican senators.

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