COSTELLO: President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, is back on Capitol Hill this morning to meet with a trio of top Democrats. Right now he's holding talks with Senator Dick Durbin. Later in the day he'll meet with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Sheldon Whitehouse. But it's not looking anymore likely that Republicans will drop their opposition to hearing for the lone vote on a Garland's nomination. CNN's senior political reporter Manu Raju on Capitol Hill with more for you. Good morning.</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Now the White House announced yesterday there will also be meetings with vulnerable Republican senators including Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio but those senators actually do not support moving forward with confirmation proceedings. They are actually happy just to have those courtesy visits. What you're seeing here is a pretty intense pressure campaign actually coming from the right. Jerry Moran of Kansas who's up to reelection suggested that there should be confirmation hearings. He got criticized substantially from the right. He backtracked and he still may face a primary challenge just by making those comments. Mike Pompeo, congressman of Kansas, is considering a run against him so really what you're seeing here is a pretty intense pressure campaign from the right which is one reason why -- a big reason it would be very hard to see Merrick Garland confirmed this year -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju reporting live for us this morning. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.
Judge Garland Meets with Top Democrats on Capitol Hill.