Both President Barack Obama and his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland have Chicago roots and on Thursday, Obama will discuss the importance of filling the vacancy on the nation’s highest court at the University of Chicago Law School, where he once taught.

The town-hall style conversation with law students will “continue to shed light on why it is so important that everyone does their job and give Judge Garland a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote,” White House Strategic Communications Advisor Rachel Racusen told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Obama’s visit to the law school where he taught constitutional law between 1992 and 2004 comes as Republican Senate leaders are blocking the nomination of Garland, a federal appellate judge here who was born in Chicago and raised in north suburban Lincolnwood.

Read more at Chicago Sun-Times