Stephen H. Anderson
Stephen Hale Anderson is a federal judge on senior status with the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. He was nominated to a new seat by U.S. president Ronald Reagan and joined the court after confirmation in October 1985. He was appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to the National Council of State and Federal Courts (1993–1998), and Chairman of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction (1995-1998). During his tenure, he testified in front of the United States Congress many times concerning related courts legislation. He assumed senior status on January 1, 2000. He maintained a full load of cases until January, 2015 when he assumed inactive senior status. He remains a member of the court.
Anderson was born on January 12, 1932, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He studied at Eastern Oregon College of Education in LaGrande, Oregon, until he served as a missionary in England for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After he completed his mission in 1953, he served in the U.S. Army 44th Infantry Division until 1955. He then enrolled at Brigham Young University where he studied until 1957 when he studied at the University of Utah College of Law and received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1960. He was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, graduated Order of the Coif, and served as editor in chief of the Utah Law Review.
He began his legal career as a trail attorney in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In 1964 he joined the law firm of Ray, Quinney & Nebeker in Salt Lake City. He remained in private practice until his judicial appointment. He was president of the Salt Lake County Bar Association from 1977 to 1978 and Utah State Bar from 1983 to 1984. He also served on the governing boards of those organizations from 1972 to 1985. He also served on the board of directors of ZCMI, the Amalgamated Sugar Company, and many other corporations. Anderson served as President of the Board of Trustees of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah (1982-1983), member of the Board of Visitors of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, and member of the Board of Governors of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce (Executive Committee, 1984-1985).
He was a founder of the Volunteer Lawyer Night Small Claims Court program, which won the American Bar Associations’s individual project Award of Merit, and was a founder of the Utah State Bar Law and Justice Center.
Anderson was named Judge of the Year by the Federal Bar Association in 2005 and by the Utah State Bar in 2002. He was named Alumnus of the Year by the University of Utah College of Law in 1986.
He and his wife, Shirlee Gehring Anderson, are the parents of two children.
