Mr. Chief Justice, may it please the court.

I'm John Carlo Canoparo.

I'm Zach Smith.

And welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court,

what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

It's a quiet week at the Supreme Court, so in this rehearing episode, we'll replay my interview with Justice Caleb Stiegel.

Justice Stiegel, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. It's great to be here, Jean-Carlo.

So, Justice, what first sparked your interest in the law?

I really did not have an early interest in law, like a lot of lawyers do from either early

childhood or even high school.

I grew up in a family that for a very long time going back many generations were pastors.

So I was a pastor's kid.

I actually didn't know any lawyers growing up.

But I did always love language and words.

And I was attracted early on to arguments and questions about public policy and politics.

I spent actually my first post-college years as a high school teacher, but I suppose those interests naturally led and eventually led to law school.

Was the decision to go to law school organic? Did it flow out of any particular event?

Yeah, I had a very good friend from my undergrad years who went to law school a few years before I did.

And he began talking to me about it and essentially said, look, this is for you.

You got to do this.

And my wife, Ann, and I had two young kids at the time.

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