Report: Flake is ready to move forward with Garland's nomination

Republican lawmakers have long refused to hold a vote on President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. It has nothing to do with his qualifications, they say, it’s just that the next president should be able to choose.

But now that polls are leaning heavily in Hillary Clinton’s favor, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake is willing to talk qualifications.

In an interview with Politico on Thursday, Flake said it may be time to approve Garland — who is relatively moderate and well-respected on both sides of the aisle — during the lame-duck session if Clinton wins the election. Garland has been sitting in limbo since March, when he was first nominated to fill the vacancy left when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February.

"I said if we were in a position like we were in in '96 and we pretty much knew the outcome that we ought to move forward. But I think we passed that awhile ago," said Flake, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "If Hillary Clinton is president-elect then we should move forward with hearings in the lame duck. That's what I'm encouraging my colleagues to do."

Clinton has not ruled out selecting a different — and potentially more progressive — nominee if she wins. And Flake acknowledges that Garland’s moderate record may be their best chance. In the spring he said that the Senate should move forward with the nominee if it looked like Republicans would lose the election.

Flake wouldn't say outright that he thinks Clinton will win, but he pointed to polls showing a widening gap between Clinton and Donald Trump.

"I'm saying that I'm not one to deny polls, particularly when they are overwhelming," Flake said. The Arizona senator has been a frequent critic of Trump’s and is one of just a handful of senators who never backed the Republican nominee.