Senate Democrats increased the pressure on their Republican colleagues to consider President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, with New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen insisting that it's time for lawmakers to "get on with it" and do their jobs.
 
Outside the federal courthouse in the state capital and inside Senate offices in the U.S. Capitol, Democrats on Wednesday dismissed the GOP argument that Obama's successor should fill the vacancy after the American voters have a say in November elections.

Earlier this month, the president nominated federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Feb. 13.

"The idea that we should not do this in an election year is just something that's been made up for partisan reasons," said Shaheen, who called Republican leadership's refusal to hold a hearing or vote on Garland's nomination a "response to the most extreme voices that we're hearing in the country right now."

In Washington, Garland traveled to the Capitol to meet with two Democratic senators — Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Al Franken of Minnesota. Although the Senate was on recess, the White House and Democrats were using every opportunity to make their case for action on Garland's nomination.