WASHINGTON — Republicans clamoring for the next Supreme Court justice to follow in the ideological footsteps of Justice Antonin Scalia may have just found their road map.

In a newly unearthed 2012 interview on C-SPAN, Scalia revealed his preferred successor: Judge Frank Easterbrook, of the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

“If I had to pick somebody to replace me on the Supreme Court, it would be Frank,” Scalia said.

Easterbrook, 67, a Buffalo native, and Scalia first met as lawyers in the Ford administration. They also were both on the University of Chicago Law School faculty before President Ronald Reagan tapped them to be judges.

Easterbook delivered the inaugural “Scalia Lecture” at Harvard Law on Nov. 17, 2014, lauding his pal as a fellow originalist, who relies on the intent of founding documents.

Easterbook declined a request for an interview.