WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says Republicans' refusal to consider his Supreme Court nominee will threaten the integrity of the justice system and prove that the judicial nomination process is "beyond repair."

In an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle, Obama says the fight is bigger than "a single election." He argues that the election-year blockade could make it impossible for future presidents to install judges on the court. He says that would "betray the vision of our founding."

Obama and his Democratic allies are increasingly casting the fight over Judge Merrick Garland as a potential Constitutional crisis. Implicit in that argument is the threat that Democrats would likely use the same hardball tactics in the future to block Republicans appointees.

The op-ed is slated to run in several regional newspapers.