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03/30/2016 09:12 AM EDT


By Seung Min Kim (skim@politico.com or @seungminkim)

With an assist from Burgess Everett

HOW DEMS COULD FORCE A GARLAND VOTE - Our ears perked up when Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, seemingly out of nowhere, floated an idea at an Iowa town hall this week: He's expecting some kind of a vote on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland because Dems will use procedural maneuvers to force one. So from Orange City, Iowa, we explored the option: "The idea is not under active consideration by Senate Democrats, who are focused on pressuring Republicans to consider Garland using the standard political channels for Supreme Court nominees. But using a motion to discharge to try to force a vote could ultimately become a nuclear option of sorts for Democrats in the contentious
battle to confirm Garland."

--"A senator, presumably Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), would propose to discharge Garland's nomination from the Judiciary Committee during an executive session of the Senate. Republicans would likely object, meaning that the motion would have to lie over one day, under Senate rules. At that point, McConnell could move to table the motion, which would require a simple majority vote to kill it. Republicans could also block Democrats from trying to enter executive session in the first place, which is otherwise a routine procedure. Democrats would need a simple majority to enter into executive session, but they control only 46 votes. The motion to discharge ultimately would need 60 votes
to succeed, should the Senate reach that point." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde15fab623f9cdd704054070f0e97e1ed7ee1e6b81abff57c3b

--Grassley said of this idea: "There's nothing we can do about it. Under the rules of the United States Senate, that resolution can be offered anytime ... Whenever they take this vote - whether it would be based on confirming the nomination or whether it's based on a discharge - it's still going to be a tough vote."

--More from Orange City: Grassley was pressed by Jason Noble of the Des Moines Register on the status of lower court nominations. The Judiciary chair said he expects the Senate to stop confirming all judicial nominations later this summer, known as the so-called Thurmond Rule. "The legitimate rule - although it's not a written rule - the Leahy-Thurmond Rule kicks in about July," Grassley said. "And then after that, there won't be any" nominations.

--And POLITICO's Edward-Isaac Dovere maps out the White House's thinking on the SCOTUS fight for the next several weeks: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde12c285649f2f27e63c4343988b153a046cd04b59dfcb0173a

KIRK MEETS GARLAND, BLASTS 'CLOSED-MINDED' GOP - Lynn Sweet for the Chicago Sun-Times: "Under a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., met with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland on Tuesday and called on his GOP Senate colleagues to be 'rational' and not block consideration of President Barack Obama's pick. 'We need rational, adult open-minded consideration of the constitutional process which Judge Garland is part of,' Kirk said, scolding his GOP Senate leadership with Garland seated next to him."

--"Garland, born in Chicago and raised in north suburban Lincolnwood, now lives in Bethesda, Maryland. However, Kirk treated Garland as if he were still an Illinois resident, calling him 'my own constituent,' one of the 'most eminent jurists in the country' and someone he 'obviously' would consider supporting." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde13d6dbb609487e9174901fa4ecf5450526954b9a71d294b9a

--Interesting tidbit from Burgess on how leadership is treating Kirk: "Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate leaders are giving Kirk plenty of space to carve out his own stance on the Supreme Court. He's receiving little pressure to toe the party line, sources said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde1ef704fd71612296218b512da5e2260592dc7030eec5708de

--Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) tells a Maine radio station that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is "not real happy with me" over her outspoken disagreements with the rest of the GOP over moving Garland this year, per BuzzFeed: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde1ab0d12a4b901102a3f4085bd0dbb264409961a825609b140 A McConnell spox tells the Wall Street Journal that the majority leader had "never said an unhappy word" about Collins - nor Kirk, for that matter: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde1f4c1a6c33c46bb0927643b3640bb7149884c622dd67d2727

LOCK, STOCK (PHOTOS) AND BARREL - Democrats aren't hiding their annoyance with the ads that the Judicial Crisis Network is running against them on the Supreme Court. One, hitting North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, uses shots of purportedly of the state - but one Democratic source painstakingly found that several are stock photos from places like Ukraine and Missouri. "It looks like very few of the shots used in the ad are even from North Dakota. How could the group possibly know what North Dakotans want when it didn't even take the time to get shots that were based in the state?" the source said.

--JCN seems happy enough to get under Democrats' skin with the ads meant to draw out opposition to Merrick Garland from Heitkamp and Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. "I am glad Democrats are paying attention to the ads, but they obviously have no response to our argument, which is that they are standing with Obama and his extreme agenda instead of listening to the concerns of their constituents," said JCN chief counsel Carrie Severino. The ads in question: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde130a9bfbdad603302b0b1cab8d222dd76ceea1a28551332b2

--Sneak peek: Americans United for Change memo on the GOP's "messy recess" - The group claims in a new memo out today: "With almost a week left, the longest Congressional recess since the death of Justice Scalia has by any measure been a disaster for Senate Republicans over their insistence that exceptionally qualified Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is undeserving of a hearing, let alone a vote." Read the memo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde17757cc775830a7376c36f4e722bf245d82ae95a2c7b18cc9

--And New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, one of the top GOP targets in 2016, will get some in-state pressure from Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen over the Supreme Court later today in Concord. Shaheen is scheduled to hold a presser with former New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick and Erin Corcoran, a law professor at the University of New Hampshire. The event at the Warren B. Rudman U.S. Courthouse is yet another example of one prong of the Dems' strategy: Democratic senators exerting pressure on their vulnerable home-state Republican colleague.

WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY, March 30, 2016 and you're reading The Huddle, where we enjoyed our two-day swing to our old stomping grounds in Iowa chasing around Chuck Grassley. An interesting observation: In one day, I spotted four different Pizza Ranch restaurants - though I never saw one in the 15 years I spent growing up in the southeast corner of the Hawkeye State. As always, I'm at skim@politico.com and on Twitter at @seungminkim.

My new followers include @councilofdc and @jasonnobleDMR.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - Both chambers are out.

AROUND THE HILL - Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland continues his one-on-one meetings with members of the Senate. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is up at 10:20 a.m. in Hart 309 for a quick photo op before his meeting, with a press conference with the senator scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will host her photo op at 11:30 a.m., and then a media avail at 11:45 a.m. in her office at Russell 464A.

--You're Invited: POLITICO Pro Health Care Briefing: Changing the Culture of Prescribing Opioids - Join POLITICO's Pro Health Care team for a conversation on the U.S. opioid crisis. Speakers include: Dr. Jeanmarie Perrone, University of Pennsylvania; Cynthia Reilly, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Dr. Bob Twillman, American Academy of Pain Management & more to be announced. Thursday, March 31 - 8 a.m., - Liaison Hotel. RSVP: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde1c5e1c78a5d65d11e413daff69b4972b920e1cb69a87fbcc9

BAD (BLUE) BLOOD IN PENNSYLVANIA? Morning Consult's Reid Wilson wades into the messy Democratic primary in the Keystone State: "State and national Democrats are backing Katie McGinty, a former state Environmental Protection secretary and chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf. Wolf, former Gov. Ed Rendell and the DSCC have all publicly endorsed McGinty; so has Sen. Bob Casey, who made an unusual foray into a Democratic primary earlier this month. And yet a month ahead of the April 26 primary, a Franklin & Marshall Center for Opinion Research poll found McGinty trailing her chief rival, former Rep. Joe Sestak, by a wide 31 percent to 14 percent margin."

--"Worryingly for national Democrats who back McGinty, Sestak's share of the vote has increased by 10 percentage points since a February Franklin & Marshall poll. McGinty's vote-share rose just two points, even after she began running television ads on March 7 ... Now, just weeks before voting begins, the Democratic calvary is riding to McGinty's rescue." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde107a9d1f0571610d98e2b37a7b5090e5e29e0b437601ad803

--On cue, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced this morning that they're endorsing McGinty over Sestak: "Katie is a true champion for working families, with a proven record of taking on big challenges and delivering for people," Obama said in the statement backing McGinty.

HOUSE GOP RELEASES PUERTO RICO BILL - WSJ's Nick Timiraos: "House Republicans unveiled legislation Tuesday that would allow Puerto Rico to restructure its debt and potentially impose losses on creditors, fast-tracking a debate weeks before the island could begin defaulting on a series of large payments. The proposal would allow the island to restructure some of its $70 billion in debt under the auspices of a federal oversight board, and it would provide for an automatic stay of litigation if the island defaults on certain debts. The legislation will be formally introduced when Congress returns from its Easter recess and advance to votes in mid-April, aides said Tuesday."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde1d21162ab0b4dde047c5093971ee226f392838963313eef3e

SENATE TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST BACKPAGE.COM - CQ Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski: "The Senate's lawyers have filed documents in federal court to enforce a subpoena against the classified website Backpage.com as part of an investigation into sex trafficking on the Internet. The move by the Senate legal counsel was announced Tuesday by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who lead the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The action follows through on a 96-0 vote by the full Senate on March 17, to move forward with contempt proceedings." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde13293c55d12afab5ae72e1bf235b544bdbb1d80643b261842

CONSERVATIVES TARGET LAME-DUCK - HuffPo's Matt Fuller: "When the House returns from a two-week recess on April 12, a small group of members are gearing up to stop GOP leadership in both chambers, if they have their way, from holding a legislative session after the November election ... The conservative members say they are trying to stop Congress from doing anything after the November election because Congress does some of its most slapdash lawmaking once an election is over."

--" 'If you look at these lame ducks, you know, the American public gets screwed,' Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), the Freedom Caucus member leading the charge against the postelection session, told The Huffington Post last week. 'Increased spending, all these favors that we got to do for people - it's got to stop.' Gosar said he's pitched the idea to the House Freedom Caucus of trying to find a way to kill the lame-duck session, 'and everybody agrees.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5b030b120d2ebde12d7ff2052637d2d54413a0337bcefcf76d9ee94aa0a4f2d4

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Emily Kolano was the first person to correctly answer that Wisconsin - the first state to pass a law establishing a state primary for voters - voted on that resolution in 1904, which it extended to presidential primaries in 1911.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Emily has today's question: Who is the only prince to have been elected to Congress? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail skim@politico.com.

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