Senators spar over remarks by US top court nominee

* Republicans stop short of threatening to block nominee

* Leahy says Sotomayor review to happen on his schedule

By Kevin Drawbaugh and Nancy Waitz

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - Four key U.S. Senate Republicans on Sunday questioned past statements and legal decisions by Judge Sonia Sotomayor but stopped short of threatening to derail her nomination to the Supreme Court.

Still, the review of Sotomayor may not go according to the Obama administration's preference for confirmation hearings in June, said Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I will meet my timetable. It could be different," Leahy told NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

Republican critics are focusing on remarks Sotomayor made in 2001 as Democratic defenders hail the 54-year-old federal appeals court judge as a fair-minded, highly qualified and historic nominee.

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic on the highest U.S. court and only the third woman. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, nominated her on Tuesday.

The ideological balance of the nine-member Supreme Court -- which decides on hot-button social issues such as abortion -- is not likely to change with the selection of Sotomayor, who would replace retiring Justice David Souter, also a liberal.