“There is absolutely no reason to drag this out any longer,” RedState.com managing editor Leon Wolf wrote. “Garland is not a great choice, but he is not a terrible one, either.” | AP Photo Conservative blog calls for GOP to confirm Merrick Garland

RedState has a message for Senate Republicans: Confirm Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court now — before Hillary Clinton picks someone much worse next year.

Leon Wolf, the managing editor of conservative blog RedState.com, wrote in a post Wednesday that with Ted Cruz dropping out of the race for the GOP nomination and Donald Trump positioned to take it, “this is not even a close call.”


“There is absolutely no reason to drag this out any longer,” Wolf wrote. “Garland is not a great choice, but he is not a terrible one, either.”

After writing that “Republicans must know” they will lose the White House and “likely” the Senate, Wolf argued that the D.C. Circuit judge is probably older and more centrist than anyone Clinton would nominate.

“In fact, if I were the Republicans, my main concern right now would be that Barack Obama would withdraw Garland’s nomination today,” Wolf wrote. “The fact that Merrick Garland still exists as an option right now is a gift that should not be squandered.”

But other conservatives, including former RedState editor-in-chief Erick Erickson, disagree.

"Republicans rushing now to confirm Merrick Garland would just confirm that they think everything is doomed, anger voters who might help them keep the Senate, and further depress Republican turnout in November. They should resist the temptation," Erickson wrote for his blog The Resurgent on Wednesday.

Erickson said that Republicans will need the support of gun owners, writing that independents "who may not like Trump still like their guns."

"If Republicans confirm Merrick Garland, in addition to further alienating the Republican base, they risk taking away keep arguments that can persuade independent voters to go with a Republican Senate," Erickson wrote. "Ticket splitting is a rare phenomenon in the United States, but this is a rare election where ticket splitting is a real possibility."

Obama has tried to sway Republicans in the Senate for weeks, personally calling almost a dozen and pledging to “play it straight” with them. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't budged on considering Garland, and the 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a vow to shelve the nomination until a new president takes office.

“While I'm glad to see Democrats concede that there won't be a Democrat in the White House next year, Republicans continue to believe that the American people should have a voice in this decision and the next president should make the nomination,” Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, said Wednesday.

So far, only two GOP senators have called for hearings for Obama’s pick and a few have said they would at least hold courtesy meetings with Garland.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has been without a ninth justice to break tie decisions. The court has split on questions about state sovereignty, gender discrimination laws and public-sector union funding since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February.

Burgess Everett contributed to this story.