Sessions: Search for new SCOTUS pick retreads last year's search

Much of President Barack Obama's search for a Supreme Court nominee is retreading last year's search, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Wednesday.

Sessions, the top Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, said though that he's concerned by some of the signs coming about what the president values in his second pick for the high court.

"I don't know that it's changed," Sessions told reporters at the Capitol when asked how to compare Obama's search for a new justice, and his search a year ago for his eventual pick, now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

"I've seen the 10 names," Sessions said in regards to the names of individuals considered to be on the short list for the pick. "I don't know what to tell him."

The White House has been sending signals that a pick could come soon to fill the vacancy to be left by Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring at the end of this term. To that end, he's reached out to a number of Republicans, including Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), today in the Oval Office.

"The president's reiterated some things that were troubling to me," Sessions said of Obama's move toward a nominee.