Obama can appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court if the Senate does nothing

[Yo_Mama]

14. Under the Constitution, the President doesn't have a right to appoint a nominee without Consent

save for a recess appointment. There's nothing allowing Congress to waive its consent. There's nothing allowing Congress to pick its own nominee if the President doesn't!!! The President nominates and the Senate consents or does not. These are two separate and equal powers under the US Constitution.

There have been protracted disputes about nominations before between a Congress and a President. Here's an article explaining this:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/26/long-supreme-court-vacancies-used-to-be-more-common/

The court does look at historical precedent.

One possibility is that President Obama could make a recess appointment and then relitigate the NLRB case (under which probably no valid recess appointment could be made this year). But realistically, he would be out of office before the case could be concluded.

It is likely that the Senate will wait until after the election to decide on Garland - they may wish to confirm Garland if Hillary Clinton is elected.