WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is calling again for Senate Republicans to consider his nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.

Republicans are countering by warning Democrats not to "seek to further divide our nation" by using the Supreme Court fight "to score cheap political points in an election year."

Obama says in his weekly radio and Internet address that the "Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics, not an extension of politics."

He says denying Garland a Senate hearing and an up-or-down vote "would indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair."

A North Carolina Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis, is using the GOP response to repeat the argument that the president elected in November should choose the next justice.