U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday threw her voice in support of a new clerkship plan to minimize chaos in the applications and hiring process, joining fellow Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

Sotomayor said she will pay close attention to those law schools and judges who follow the hiring plan and will “react accordingly to those who do not follow the plan.” The process under the plan, a two-year pilot, begins after a law student's second year. Judges' adherence to earlier similar plans was not uniform and they fell apart.

“It's hard to imagine in a profession where most of those teaching civil discourse, courtesy, respect and human tolerance—the idea that judges couldn't follow a plan undermines the lessons we are trying to teach,” Sotomayor said, speaking at the American Constitution Society's national convention in Washington. “It's hard for me to understand how the old plans fell apart. [The program] has a chance for success. I've seen judges working on it. I know that I, for one, will pay close attention to the clerk applicants from judge to judge.”