Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland, right, stands with President Barack Obama as he is introduced Wednesday as Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON — With a name, face and judicial record finally fleshed out, President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court vacancy is ready to commence courtesy calls with senators that Democrats hope will ultimately put unbearable election-year pressure on Republicans refusing to consider any Obama nominee.

Merrick Garland planned to visit two top Democrats today, a day after Obama nominated the 63-year-old appellate court judge and former prosecutor for the seat. The White House said after a two-week Senate recess, Garland will meet with Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who’s been a chief focus of Democratic attacks for refusing to let his panel hold a hearing for anyone Obama selects, helping to doom the nomination.

Declining to see Garland was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has led the GOP’s near-solid blockade against a hearing or vote until the next president makes a choice. But the planned meeting with Grassley — which his aides conceded could occur — underscored a willingness by a small but growing cadre of GOP senators to say they’d see the nominee, and in some cases take the process even further.

“I meet with anybody, and that would include him,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Flake said if a Democrat is elected president, he’d want the Senate to consider Garland’s nomination during a post-election, lame-duck session because “between him and somebody that a President Clinton might nominate, I think the choice is clear.”

Flake’s comment showed how Obama and the leading Democratic presidential contender, Hillary Clinton, have had a good cop-bad cop effect on some Republicans, who consider Clinton likely to make a more liberal selection should she enter the White House.

GOP Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Rob Portman of Ohio also expressed an openness to meeting with Garland. Ayotte and Portman are among a half-dozen GOP senators in competitive re-election contests who Democrats hope will be pressured into backing hearings and a vote on Garland or be punished for their refusal by voters.

Opposition by most Republicans means Garland’s confirmation remains an uphill climb. One reason for the intense combat over Justice Antonin Scalia’s replacement is that Garland would tilt the court’s 4-4 balance in the liberal direction after decades of conservative dominance.

“The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country,” McConnell said. “So of course the American people should have a say in the court’s direction” by their selection of the next president.

McConnell’s statement illustrated how the issue has blossomed into one coloring voting that will determine White House and Senate control.