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Posted: 2017-03-10T02:05:35Z | Updated: 2017-03-10T07:40:16Z

The grassroots resistance to President Donald Trump has targeted many things: His apparent disregard for ethics and the rule of law. His Cabinet appointments. His campaigns reported contacts with Russia. His pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. His executive orders targeting immigrants and minorities.

But one area where the opposition is still gathering is the impending confirmation of Neil Gorsuch , the respected appeals judge Trump nominated in to the Supreme Court . Gorsuchs Senate confirmation hearings are set to begin March 20.

With the date nearing, progressive groups are beginning to get serious about the nominee, forming the The Peoples Defense a new activist coalition aimed at bringing Gorsuch down at all costs. Or at least sounding the alarm about a nominee who even opponents say comes across as likable.

Im happy to sit down to lunch with him, Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a call with reporters to lay out the coalitions goals. Thats way too low a bar for a jurist of the highest court of the land.

The collective, which includes established advocacy organizations and newer ones formed in the wake of Trumps election, wants to channel the anti-Trump sentiment sweeping the Democratic base. And they want to make it clear that the political battle over the empty Supreme Court seat which President Barack Obama lost when Republicans successfully blocked Judge Merrick Garlands nomination in the Senate is part of that resistance.

Senate Democrats are the only firewall we have left now against the Trump court.

- Murshed Zaheed, CREDOs political director

Any Democrat, any elected official who is wondering whether the Supreme Court fight is a priority for the grassroots, needs to understand that the answer is an unequivocal yes, said Anna Galland, the executive director of MoveOn.

Senate Democrats are the only firewall we have left now against the Trump court, added Murshed Zaheed, Credo Actions political director. He warned that any Democrat who supports the Gorsuch nomination will permanently damage his or her political career.

With only 48 senators in their ranks, Democrats leverage is limited. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has suggested hed demand at least 60 votes to confirm Gorsuch the number needed to break a filibuster. In his view, anything less means that Gorsuch is not mainstream enough to be confirmed.

But even that process argument implies that some Senate Democrats would have to break ranks and join Republicans, who have shown a unified front in their support for Gorsuch, all but guaranteeing his confirmation.

We are going to confirm him before the April recess, said a confident Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday, as he took credit for shooting down the Garland nomination, according to Politico .