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

A Senior Law partner and member of the governing board of Common Cause writes "Through inaction, the Senate is waiving its constitutional duty to act on nominations."

I had written a stronger article citing the failure of the Republican pledge signers to follow their Constitutionally binding Oath of Office: http://bit.ly/1XKev79 followed by a petition to hold them accountable, but Gregory Diskant, who served as a clerk to SCOTUS Justice Marshall, suggests another way, which might allow the president to bypass the Senate when it refuses to do its duty entirely.  If we wish to preserve the independence of the Judiciary, traditionally the weakest of the three branches of government, a way must be found around Senators who refuse to do their duty as defined in the Constitution's Article 2, Section 2.