“We have a couple of options and we’re deciding when to do that and if we should do it, when and if,” Harry Reid said. | AP Photo Harry Reid won't rule out hardball tactics in Merrick Garland fight

Sen. Harry Reid isn't ruling out going to the mat to force consideration of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

Reid is still weighing his options, and on Thursday the Senate minority leader wouldn't rule out a move to force a discharge vote. While that procedural maneuver would not technically confirm Garland, it would serve instead as a proxy vote that would put GOP senators on the record as either supporting or not supporting his ascendance to the Supreme Court.


“We have a couple of options and we’re deciding when to do that and if we should do it, when and if,” Reid said on a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon. “I’ve been in touch with some of my senators during the break to determine that.”

Reid also suggested that Hillary Clinton would renominate Garland if she wins the presidency, Roll Call reported. With Republicans vowing not to move to fill the court vacancy until next year, Garland would need to be renominated to be considered.

Reid said Republicans’ refusal to even hold a hearing on Garland’s confirmation remains a major issue with voters. He said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to hold a hearing on Garland because of pressure from the billionaire megadonor Koch brothers.

Charles and David Koch have stayed away from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but Reid said the pair are cleaning up after him with donations to GOP senators struggling with the Manhattan billionaire at the top of the ballot.

“What the Republicans are hoping is because Trump has made such a fool of himself and the Koch brothers are in there covering for his mistakes, they think that this thing is going to go away, this Supreme Court issue. It’s not going to go away,” Reid said. "All you have to do is look at polling individual states. And every state that there’s polling done, for example in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, pick any one of these states, and the issue relating to not holding a hearing is so very, very vitally important to the voters, Democrats and Republicans.”