DALE A. KIMBALL
U.S. District judge
Appointed by President Clinton on Nov. 24, 1997, Kimball has steered clear of many of Utah's most famous federal court battles. The Main Street Plaza case will likely be his most recognized case to date.
Raised on a Salt Lake County dairy farm, Kimball, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, graduated from Brigham Young University in 1964 and earned a law degree from the University of Utah three years later.
Afterward he became a law professor at BYU and later founded one of Salt Lake City's largest firms, Kimball, Parr, Waddoups, Brown & Gee. In 1996 he was named the Utah State Bar's Distinguished Lawyer of the Year.
As a judge, Kimball in 2000 ruled against the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance's bid to force the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to protect Utah's wilderness study areas, especially areas with significant off-road vehicle use. However, Kimball was overturned by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Still, Kimball's ruling may eventually be restored as the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.
As part of a three-judge panel, he ruled against Utah's bid to get LDS missionaries abroad counted as Utah residents in the 2000 Census. Counting missionaries could have given Utah a fourth congressional seat, eliminating North Carolina's claim.
Last year, in a ruling against Salt Lake City, Kimball directed the municipality to pay $50,000 in damages after police kicked down David Callaway's door when Callaway denied them access to his house.
Later that year, Kimball offered the first-ever federal review of Utah's disputed hate-crimes statue, saying the 1992 law was constitutional.
STEVEN W. ALLRED
chief deputy attorney
Salt Lake City
Many people felt Allred would become Salt Lake City attorney when longtime City Attorney Roger Cutler retired in 2002. However, Mayor Rocky Anderson brought in Ed Rutan from the private sector to head up the office.
Allred, then, remained the city's chief deputy. His responsibilities are extensive. Allred oversees the city's litigation team and supervises the city's risk manager. He also serves as the city's chief liaison to the Legislature and as legislative support for the Utah League of Cities and Towns.
He was central staff attorney for the Utah Supreme Court from 1980-82 and was the Legislature's deputy general counsel from 1975-80.
Allred argued the initial Main Street Plaza case in court. While he won at the district court level in Salt Lake City, he lost before the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
MARK J. LOPEZ
American Civil Liberties Union
attorney, New York City
Lopez, working out of the ACLU's New York office, has handled a number of important free-speech cases for the civil rights group.
He helped challenge the Maine Clean Elections Act, which limited the amount of money candidates could receive from contributors. He also aided the Nevada ACLU in its efforts to restore free speech to traditional public forums on Las Vegas Boulevard and on Fremont Street, sites that had become private land.
In Georgia, Lopez helped challenge a state statue that forbade the sale of certain adult sex toys.
Last year Lopez argued before the U.S. Supreme Court for Kevin Hicks, who was arrested at a Virginia public housing complex for bringing diapers to his child. In an effort to curb drug use and sale at the complex, the state had imposed a ban on using the public sidewalk to anyone who didn't live at the complex.
Lopez is taking charge of the second Main Street Plaza case after Stephen Clark, the architect of the initial plaza suit, left ACLU of Utah.
ALAN L. SULLIVAN
attorney with Snell & Wilmer
As an attorney for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sullivan has been embroiled in many high-profile legal cases and public disputes in recent years. As church attorney, he was center-stage in the Nordstrom-Gateway controversy, filed legal motions against the Crazy Goat Saloon's request to function as a strip club and represented the church in the American Civil Liberties Union's second Main Street Plaza suit.
Before Sullivan signed on with the church last year, he was hired by the University of Utah in its battle to ban guns from campus. Last year 3rd District Judge Robert Hilder sided with Sullivan and the U. and against the Utah Attorney General's Office, declaring the U. could ban guns on campus.
Before that controversial case, Sullivan represented AT&T in a very public dispute over the sale of the Salt Lake Tribune. In that case Sullivan successfully convinced U.S. Magistrate Samuel Alba and U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart to dismiss AT&T from a lawsuit over the Tribune's ownership and to disallow Tribune managers' desire to question AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong about the sale.