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"I probably would take the opportunity to nominate someone," Carson said during Wednesday's CNN GOP town hall.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that person is going to be acted on or confirmed. Why not do it?"

Carson is part of the group of GOP politicians who called on the Republican Senate not to confirm President Obama's choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Saturday. He lamented the partisanship that has taken over the court and clouded the decisions surrounding it.

"The Supreme Court, a very important part of our governmental system, was originally intended to consist of jurists who are people who loved America, people who fully understood our Constitution and were there to make sure America preserved our constitutional traditions," he said.

"It was not supposed to be a partisan group. It has become very partisan. As a result, everything that has been done surrounding it, the picks, the confirmation hearings, deciding on whether or not to make the vote, all of it has become partisan in reaction."

A Wednesday poll by NBC News/Wall Street Journal showed Americans effectively evenly divided on party lines as to whether the Senate should vote to fill Scalia's vacant seat.