  We consider linear codes associated to Schubert varieties in Grassmannians. A
formula for the minimum distance of these codes was conjectured in 2000 and
after having been established in various special cases, it was proved in 2008
by Xiang. We give an alternative proof of this formula. Further, we propose a
characterization of the minimum weight codewords of Schubert codes by
introducing the notion of Schubert decomposable elements of certain exterior
powers. It is shown that codewords corresponding to Schubert decomposable
elements are of minimum weight and also that the converse is true in many
cases. A lower bound, and in some cases, an exact formula, for the number of
minimum weight codewords of Schubert codes is also given. From a geometric
point of view, these results correspond to determining the maximum number of
$\mathbb{F}_q$-rational points that can lie on a hyperplane section of a
Schubert variety in a Grassmannian with its nondegenerate embedding in a
projective subspace of the Pl\"ucker projective space, and also the number of
hyperplanes for which the maximum is attained.
