Justice Consuelo Marie Callahan, Circuit Judge, United States Courts of Appeal [25:23-30:25]

Stanford well I think I thought that I was I've always been a talker and and I was a good writer and communication I believe was always one of my strong suits so I thought that that was a natural for me even though I my high school math teacher who I saw recently called me he said that I was a math giant though I didn't even know it but math was not really I didn't think I was as good in math as I was in English and I think that some of it looking back was a little bit the times and people encouraged women more to go into things that they thought were more consistent with female skills but the interesting part about it as I look back is I always tested higher in math on any of the standardized tests or and so if I were to do it if now that I've been there done that all of that I might maybe I'd go back the other way if I were to redo it but but I did but as it turned out I think it was it was consistent with my personality and I think it ended up being consistent with the the things I ended up doing I mean obviously now that I've been in the pellet judge for over 10 years what do I do read right you know all of that and and then as a lawyer that I was a trial lawyer speaking on on your feet so I think it probably I think it really was pretty true to some of my natural gifts but I'm not sure that it was the only thing that I could have done I see I mean it's clearly served you well but it sounds like you are certainly not one of those lawyers who avoid or judges who avoid math no you know I think I can't do that yes that's right now what years did you attend Stanford I was there from 1968 to 72 during all the the unrest when the the universities were somewhat up in arms about the Warren Vietnam and they had I remember having they had the lottery for young men on the draft at that particular time I can remember getting evacuated from my dorm with the the National Guard out there and tear gas because of unrest on the on the campus I also remember I think it was in the spring of 70 we we would have had to cross picket lines to go to our classes so they didn't make people do that we all got passes of which I was a little irritated because I thought I was doing better than a pass in my classes but the so it was that was it was that it was that was going on during that time although I would have to say because I do remember at my freshman orientation we are memorial chapel or Memchew as we called it Joan Bias saying a song in the church and it was not too far from when her husband at the time David Harris had been the president of Stanford although Stanford was really not nearly as militant as Berkeley we we really we just couldn't really quite hold a torch well I could see that I could see that now those are historical times they were it was different it really was different and I think in terms of just watching my children go up the difference in terms of that they didn't really understand more in the sense that my husband for example is a Vietnam bat and a lot of people during you know people that I went to high school with went to Vietnam and and particularly people I think that lived went to high schools that had poor people there a lot of the young men that they suffered a lot of casualties in terms of at that time and that's something that we're now starting to it histories repeating itself a little bit again did any of that that historical perspective and this experience of impact you in your desire to become a lawyer because you were still English teacher or a lawyer so when did it gel into I want to go to law school well it you know I don't think that that was honestly a factor I think it was my awareness of myself as I proceeded that and looking I had thought about being not a college professor but a high school English teacher because I did have teachers in my family and my because my dad had been a teacher I thought I was looking at high school students and remembering myself and high school and some of my friends and I just decided that high school students were not at the level most of them didn't care they were really rude they didn't do their homework and they they weren't very intellectually engaged and I decided that was going to be a waste of my what what I perceived to be my intellectual rigor in the area at that time and that the kids weren't going to listen to me and it was just going to be more of a battle trying to find you know I just decided no and that I would rather do something where I would that would have that where I feel more