Op-Ed: Bush would have chosen Merrick Garland

University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush.

In a New York Times op-ed last week, he explained why President Obama's choice for the next associate justice to the Supreme Court would have appealed to Bush as well.

With the opposition party controlling the senate, Painter wrote, the best option "is for the president to nominate a consensus candidate....Judge [Merrick] Garland is just the kind of candidate we would have advised President Bush to nominate if he had been in this situation."

Painter joined MPR News host Kerri Miller to explain why he thinks Republican senators should hold hearings and a floor vote on Judge Garland's nomination.

"President Bush was someone who wanted to get the job done," Painter said. "He would not have tolerated a situation where a seat on the Supreme Court remained vacant for an entire year."