Schumer claims no one questioned that Sotomayor was out of the mainstream

"No one questioned that she (Judge Sotomayor) was out of the mainstream."
Charles Schumer on Sunday, April 11th, 2010 in ABC's "This Week"

Condensed story from 2009 Pulitzer prize winner, Politifact.com Click here for Full Story.

Charles Schumer is a Democrat senator from New York.

Direct your attention to a July 13, 2009, AP story under the headline, "Sessions: Sonia Sotomayor 'out of mainstream.'"

That's Sessions as in Sen. Jeff Sessions, the leading Judiciary Committee Republican. The AP wrote that just hours before Sotomayor's initial confirmation hearing, Sessions charged that Sotomayor is "out of the mainstream" of legal thinking and has a very activist judicial profile.

• In a press release issued Aug. 5, 2009, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., took issue with Sotomayor's ruling in a gun case, saying, it "shows an alarming hostility to law-abiding gun owners across the country. That is a view that is certainly out of the mainstream in this nation."

• In a press release issued Aug. 6, 2009, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said that at her confirmation hearing Sotomayor attempted to distance herself from several statements "and explain them away, most likely recognizing that they were controversial and out of the mainstream. However, in my mind, she was not very successful."

• In a statement released on Aug. 4, 2009, Grassley said Sotomayor "openly questioned whether 'ignoring our differences as women, men, or even people of color...we do a disservice both to the law and society.' This is yet another example of an out of the mainstream judicial philosophy."

• A June 29, 2009, story in Roll Call noted that talking points prepared for House and Senate Republicans urged members to make the case that Sotomayor's written statements, rulings and speeches "show an out of the mainstream view of the role of a judge."

Perhaps Schumer meant "hardly anyone" claimed Sotomayor was out of the mainstream. But Schumer's absolute claim that "no one questioned that she was out of the mainstream" isn't accurate. "Out of the mainstream" is a subjective term, but the fact is that a number of Republican senators used that exact phrase. Schumer's statement is False.

So Charles Schumer --- Are you Kidding?