Republican Sen. Jeff Flake appeared to slam his party's strategy on blocking President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, suggesting that the move is motivated by politics.
"Our position shouldn't be that the next president ought to decide. Nobody really believes that, because if this were the last year of a Republican presidency nobody would say that," Flake told The Daily Beast.
Republicans have promised to block a vote on Obama's nominee. Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said, "It's never (been) about Garland, it's always been about the principle," the Daily Beast reported.
Flake, an Arizona Republican, said that the focus should be on getting "the most conservative justice" to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.
"That ought to be the principle, and that would allow for us to go with Garland if the alternative is somebody more liberal," Flake said.
Earlier in 2016, Flake said he would be open to confirming Garland at the end of the year if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wins the White House.
"Obviously if we lose the election and lose the White House, then we ought to move quickly to confirm... but I don't think my view is shared by too many of my colleagues," he told Business Insider.
In March, Republican Sen. John Cornyn said an end-of-the-year vote is a "terrible idea," The Hill reported.
The principle appears to only apply to the Supreme Court, according to The Daily Beast, which reported that Republicans have held hearings to fill more than 20 vacancies in federal district courts.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said that the nominating process between districts and the Supreme Court is different, and "Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley have rightly held the line."
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