GOP debaters: Can't let Obama pick new justice

Most on stage agree, then turn focus to policy divisions

The Republican presidential candidates pause at the start of their debate Saturday in Greenville, S.C., for a moment of silence in honor of deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Republican presidential candidates pause at the start of their debate Saturday in Greenville, S.C., for a moment of silence in honor of deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Republican presidential candidates insisted that President Barack Obama let his successor nominate the next Supreme Court justice, in a Saturday night debate that also featured jousting over immigration and foreign policy.

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AP

Ted Cruz (left) and Donald Trump shout at each other Saturday night during the GOP presidential debate in Greenville, S.C. Cruz challenged Trump’s credentials, then Trump called Cruz “the single biggest liar” and charged, “This guy will say anything. Nasty guy.”

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AP

Donald Trump shares a word with Marco Rubio during the GOP presidential debate. On the campaign trail in recent days, Rubio criticized Trump for using crude language that Rubio said he had to shield from his young sons.

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The New York Times

Candidates Ben Carson (from left), Ted Cruz and others wait offstage for the start of the GOP presidential debate in Greenville, S.C.

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia jolted Republican primary candidates hours before the debate, making appointments to the high court no longer theoretical but an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Moderator John Dickerson of CBS News opened the debate with a moment of silence for Scalia.

Even before taking the stage in Greenville, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida said the next president, rather than Obama, should name Scalia's successor.

Businessman Donald Trump said he fully expects Obama to nominate a replacement for Scalia but that it's up to Congress to "delay, delay, delay." Trump said, "If I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice."

Candidate John Kasich advised the president to hold off on selecting a successor to Scalia, saying it would further divide the country. "I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody," the Ohio governor said. "I would like the president to just for once here put the country first."

Candidate Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said, "I fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed in his [Obama's] time."

Only Jeb Bush said Obama had "every right" to nominate a justice during his final year in office. The former Florida governor said there should be a consensus behind that choice -- but added that he didn't expect Obama to pick a candidate in that vein.

Cruz cast the moment in stark terms, saying allowing another Obama nominee to be approved would amount to Republicans giving up control of the Supreme Court for a generation. Cruz urged voters to consider who among the GOP candidates would nominate the most ideologically pure justices.

The debate comes a week before the South Carolina primary, the first test of the candidates in a diverse state and in the solidly Republican southern U.S.

Until now, the Supreme Court has factored into the presidential race only tangentially, with candidates reminding voters that the next president could be responsible for filling multiple vacancies.

Trump, Bush tangle

Trump and Bush tangled in some of the night's most heated exchanges, trading barbs on issues including Middle East policy and Bush's prominent political family.

Trump accused former President George W. Bush's administration of having lied to the country about foreign intelligence in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"Obviously the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake," Trump said. "George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes, but that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East."

Jeb Bush, who has been among the most aggressive Republican candidates in taking on Trump, said that while he doesn't mind the real estate mogul criticizing him -- "It's blood sport for him" -- he is "sick and tired of him going after my family."

He said that while Trump was "building a TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus" to keep the nation safe.

Trump was jeered by the audience in South Carolina, a state where the Bush family is popular with Republicans. George W. Bush plans to campaign with his brother in Charleston on Monday, making his first public foray into the 2016 race.

Trump pooh-poohed the audience, dismissing them as "Jeb's special interests and lobbyists."

Kasich sought to inject the election's high stakes into the discussion in the midst of the fiery exchanges between his competitors.

"I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this," Kasich said.

The governor's warnings did little to deter his colleagues.

Cruz attacked Trump over the businessman's past positions on abortion and other social issues. He also criticized Trump for asserting that, with the exception of abortions, Planned Parenthood did important work for women's health.

"You are the single biggest liar," Trump thundered at Cruz at one point. "This guy will say anything. Nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues."

Cruz responded: "Donald has this weird pattern. When you point to his own record, he screams, 'Liar, liar, liar.'"

Cruz and Rubio also revived their fight over immigration, with the Texas senator haranguing his Florida counterpart for sponsoring failed legislation that would have created a pathway to citizenship for many of those in the United States illegally. Cruz also accused Rubio of taking a more moderate approach when speaking to Spanish-language media in an attempt to appeal to Hispanics.

"I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision -- he doesn't speak Spanish," Rubio shot back.

Rubio entered the debate under pressure after his fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary. He had stumbled in a debate days before that vote.

During Saturday's contest, Rubio defended his proposed 25 percent corporate tax rate -- which is not as much of a tax cut as many of his rivals are pitching. Rubio said his idea would leave enough revenue in the federal budget to triple the child tax credit for working families with children.

Kasich defended himself against attacks on his conservative credentials, particularly his decision to expand Medicaid in Ohio despite resistance from his GOP-led Legislature. Kasich argued that his decision was a good deal for the state in the long run.

"We want everyone to rise and we will make them personally responsible for the help they get," said Kasich, who finished in second place in the New Hampshire primary.

Carson, who has struggled with foreign affairs, stressed that he had exhibited sound judgment in the operating room.

"As far as that 2 a.m. phone call is concerned, judgment is what is required, and the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult, and very unique," Carson said.

In the first two voting states, Cruz won in Iowa and Trump won in New Hampshire. The two are hoping to add to their win column in South Carolina's Saturday primary.

The relationship between Trump and Cruz has become increasingly acrimonious in recent days. Cruz released a television advertisement before the debate accusing Trump of a "pattern of sleaze." Trump fired back on Twitter with another round of questions about his Canadian-born rival's eligibility to be U.S. president.

If Cruz "doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen," Trump wrote.

On the campaign trail last week, Rubio criticized Trump for using crude language that Rubio had to shield from his young sons. Right to Rise USA, a super PAC promoting Bush, released an ad Friday calling Bush "the better man" and highlighting Trump's personal attacks.

Showing in debate

Republican leaders in South Carolina said they expected the debate to be closely watched by people still trying to make up their minds before next Saturday's balloting.

Since 1980, the winner of that state's Republican primary went on to become the nominee, with one exception. That was in 2012, when a pair of strong debate performances just ahead of the primary lifted Newt Gingrich to a first-place finish over eventual nominee Mitt Romney.

Katon Dawson, former chairman of the South Carolina GOP, said he expects the debate to have more of an effect on his state's voters than the results in either Iowa or New Hampshire.

"In the last couple of races, we have seen our voters hold their final pick until a couple of days before," Dawson said. "After the church bells ring on Sunday, people are going to start paying a lot of attention."

Poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire led some frequent debate participants, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, to end their campaigns. Nearly all lower-polling candidates who have participated in undercard debates have also ended their White House bids.

Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace and Will Weissert of The Associated Press; by Sean Sullivan, Jenna Johnson, Philip Rucker, Ed O'Keefe and Jose A. DelReal of The Washington Post; and by John McCormick, James Nash and Kevin Cirilli of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 02/14/2016

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