http://www.politico.com/blogs/south-carolina-primary-2016-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/supreme-court-justice-appointment-lindsey-graham-219249Sen. Graham: Obama's Supreme Court pick needs to be a 'consensus' choice
By Eli Stokols
02/13/16 07:21 PM EST
Before the GOP debate in Greenville, S.C. Saturday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham said the only way President Obama could get a Supreme Court nominee approved by the Senate would be to put forward a consensus choice.
“No one will be appointed who isn’t a consensus choice," Graham said. "Now can the president find someone who 90 percent of us will agree upon? Maybe someone like Orrin Hatch."
Graham, who threw his support behind Jeb Bush days after ending his own presidential bid, framed the question of Scalia's replacement around the issue of electability, asserting that the anti-establishment candidates who have had the most success early on in the GOP nomination fight aren't likely to yield a justice in the mold of Scalia.
“Donald Trump’s not a conservative, so I don’t trust him to pick a judge," Graham said. "Everybody else on stage would pick somebody in the same mold, I think. Everybody other than Donald Trump I would have confidence would pick a Supreme Court justice nominee that I would vote for. Here’s the problem: I don’t think Ted Cruz or Donald Trump can win an election. I don’t think Ted Cruz has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting 270 electoral votes.
“If we lose the election, Hillary Clinton’s going to pick somebody who I wouldn’t pick. I’m telling every conservative now: don’t expect to lose the election and still get your way.”
