Sen. Jeff Flake Jeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Republican former Michigan governor says he's voting for Biden Maybe they just don't like cowboys: The president is successful, some just don't like his style MORE is knocking his party's Supreme Court strategy, arguing the opposition to taking up President Obama's nominee boils down to politics.

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"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 said.

His comments pit him against GOP leaders, who argue the entrenched court fight is not about a person, but the principle that Supreme Court vacancies should not be filled during a presidential election year. They have pledged to block Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, from getting a hearing or a vote.

But Flake appeared to criticize that thinking, arguing GOP senators should focus instead 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," he added.

The Arizona Republican, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, told The Daily Beast that "nobody really believes" a Supreme Court seat should remain vacant until the next president is sworn in.