First Draft: White House Calls on Senators to Draw Attention to Supreme Court Fight

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York after Judge Merrick B. Garland was introduced as the Supreme Court nominee at the White House last week. Mr. Schumer will meet with the judge on Tuesday.

With the Senate in recess, the White House is calling on senators in the Acela caucus, those who can easily take the Amtrak train to Washington, to keep the Supreme Court nomination fight alive. And it is carefully dropping reports of the meetings into the news media as attention-getting items.

On Tuesday, Judge Merrick B. Garland will meet with Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, and Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. Mr. Casey already had meetings scheduled with members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose annual convention is underway in Washington. So he will take the train from Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning and go home again Tuesday night, according to his staff members.

Mr. Schumer has scheduled a photo and video “spray” at the start of his meeting with Judge Garland and a “media availability” after it, where he will almost certainly call on his fellow senators to “do their jobs.”

On Wednesday, Judge Garland will meet with Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat. When the Senate returns, he will meet with Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican.

With the Democratic caucus made up of 46 members, and a handful of Republicans potentially agreeing to at least meet with Judge Garland, that is a lot of “sprays” and “media availabilities” in the coming weeks and months, as Democrats scramble for events to keep public focus on the stalemate.

Democrats are hoping the attention will help win the confirmation of Judge Garland or will alternatively help them defeat vulnerable incumbent Republican senators running in swing states such as Illinois, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Polls have shown that strong majorities agree with Democrats on the issue, but Republicans are so far holding fast because the Supreme Court is seen as crucial to many of their base voters.

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