Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Republicans will have to "cave in" and allow a hearing and vote on an Obama nominee to the Supreme Court.

Reid, D-Nev., who was appearing at an event in Reno on Wednesday, said he believes Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made "a terrible mistake," by signaling the Senate will not even take up a nomination.

"I first of all think that they're going to cave in," Reid said of McConnell. "I think the president's going to give us a nominee that's a good one and I think they're going to have to hold hearings and have a vote."

McConnell has remained silent since Saturday, when he issued a statement declaring a nominee to fill the seat vacated by the sudden death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia should be decided by the next president and not Obama.

Democrats since then have mounted an attack on the GOP in an effort to pressure them to back down.

Reid told reporters in Reno that it would be "tough" for the GOP to block a nominee because historically it just doesn't happen much.

Democrats allowed conservative justices to be seated on the court, including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, among others, Reid noted.

"There were no filibusters there," Reid said. "I think they should just have a vote. And the American people are going to make them pay if they jerk the president around on this."