ANNOUNCER: It's time to go "One-on-One".

KING: Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will pass judgment of course on President Obama's upcoming nominee for the United States Supreme Court. The senator's tone and his take on that nominee will go a long way in determining whether the president makes the sale.

That got him an invitation to the White House this morning and an invitation to go "One-on-One" with us tonight -- Senator, welcome.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Thank you.

KING: The president invites you down. He's trying to say I'm going to reach out to everybody, Democrats and Republicans. Did he give you any hints on who he's going to pick?

SESSIONS: No, he didn't. He said that he considered a number of these nominees before. He felt like he knew them and some new ones were added to the list and that's about where he said he was in the process.

KING: Any discussion of names back and forth?

SESSIONS: No, no names were mentioned.

KING: Did he say to the ranking Republican, Senator Sessions, is there anybody on my list who you know of that you would say absolutely positively not, Mr. President. Did he ask you that question?

SESSIONS: No, he didn't. He did say that of course he was open, if we felt that we wanted to call and discuss any of the matters further, he would be delighted to talk with us about it, which I thought was a nice offer. You know he gets to the point. The president gets to a point. We have to objectively evaluate it. And it's the only opportunity the American people have -- have any real play in the process when their elected representatives review the president's choice. And it's a serious responsibility and I think it was a nice meeting today.

KING: As we wait for the choice, let's not dwell on names but let's focus on what you think the country needs right now. One of the interesting things that always comes up is do you pick a judge, do you pick someone with judicial experience, do you pick a prosecutor, do you pick an everyday American or maybe a politician. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, Democrat of Nevada, came out of the White House and he has always been one to say go outside of the world of robes, if you will. Let's listen to Senator Reid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I hope that we have someone who is not a circuit court judge. I personally feel it should be someone who is an academic, someone who has held public office, someone who is an outstanding lawyer. And the president said that he'll take that into consideration. I felt very, very good about the meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So the Democratic leader felt good. The Republican -- ranking Republican feels goods. I want to put up a picture, a class photo of the current Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens, of course will be leaving and you see Justice Stevens here. How important -- you're a former state attorney general; you're a former federal prosecutor. You were considered once for a federal judgeship yourself and had a hard time in your confirmation hearing and I know you try to put that one behind you.

When you look at this picture, how important is it in this day and age, people say the Court should look like America or you've sparred with the president a little bit when he uses what you call the empathy test, the Court should understand America. What factors when you look at this Court, one could argue, for example, as you look at the picture there are no Asian Americans on this Court? Should there be an Asian American on the Supreme Court?

SESSIONS: I don't think that should be the primary thing. I don't think the ethnicity or the background of an individual should be the primary thing when they're selected to the Court. Really, it requires good judgment. I believe a good judge has to have real experience in the legal world. They don't have to be a judge, but I don't think we want a politician. We don't want somebody who has been maybe a part- time lawyer and a politician, and that kind of thing. I think we want somebody who has been experienced arguing before judges, practicing law, or actually serving on a bench and they have a record. And that they're good at it. People -- some people are better than others at this business, just like any other. And I think we can select people who are really good at it.

KING: But is diversity at all a priority for you, in the sense of whether it is somebody's race, whether it is their religion or their gender, sexual orientation. Are any of those factors in your mind in whether somebody is qualified or not qualified?

SESSIONS: I think that can be a factor, a positive factor for somebody, certainly. I really do. And I don't object to a president or someone seeking to try to have diversity in a court. But the most important thing is, and it cannot be that just because this person fills an unfilled ethnic position, so to speak, that they are not, therefore, accountable for their judicial philosophy or their skill or their background. That simply cannot be. And I don't think that's what any of the nominees would want. I think they would feel that they should be judged by the same rigorous standards anybody else would be judged by.

KING: Let's talk about some other big legal issues in the country that could well end up before the United States Congress. One is immigration reform. The president has started calling -- he's called a handful of Republicans in recent days, trying to test whether he would have any Republicans to stand with him if they tried to push comprehensive immigration reform that included some sort of legal status for millions in this country illegally. Would you be prepared to let that happen this year or would Republicans fight the president?

SESSIONS: Well, I opposed the last comprehensive bill. I thought it was just utterly unworkable, unprincipled, and would not do what they promised it would do.

So the question is what is in it? Yes, we need to reform our system. Yes, we need to make it serve our national interest. I would like to see a system much more like Canada's, for example. We can do those kinds of things. But if it's simply going to be another political program hatched up by secret meetings promoting special interests, I'm not for that. And so I would be worried about the nature of the bill that we might see.

KING: The committee also overlooks election laws in the country. The state of Arizona, the House of Representatives has passed a piece of legislation that would require candidates for president to show the state a birth certificate before they could be put on the ballot. Now, it still has to go through the senate, so there's no certainty that this would actually become the law. But do you want that happening from state to state around this country?

SESSIONS: What's wrong with that? I mean, I don't know that there's anything wrong with saying you're supposed to be a citizen, so I don't know there would be a problem to produce a birth certificate. If you didn't have one, I guess you could explain why you didn't, but I don't see a problem with that.

KING: Is there any problem with doing it on a state by state basis? Is that up to the states, or do you think there should be some sort of a national requirement or something like that?

SESSIONS: Well, you know, that's an interesting legal question. I don't know if the states have the authority to do that or not. I guess they could -- are attempting to say they are, that you can't be on our ballot unless you do that. So I guess they could attempt that, but then again, that may be a federal constitutional question that they're not able to pass legislation on. I don't know.

KING: Maybe that's a question you can raise when you finally get the president's nominee before the Judiciary Committee. Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Thank you, sir, for your time.

SESSIONS: Thank you, John.

KING: Thank you.