He spent his legal career in private practice, working on white-collar criminal defense, commercial law and serious personal injury lawsuits. He was a member of the defense team representing Olympic officials in Salt Lake City accused of bribery in the city’s efforts to win the 2002 Winter Games. In his Senate confirmation questions, he said he did free legal work for poorer criminal defendants — usually about two cases a year.

“So many people thought he was so good, just brilliant,” said Andrew Morse, president of Snow, Christensen and Martineau, the firm where Judge Shelby had been a shareholder when he was nominated to the bench. “He’s just easy to get along with, always says the right thing.”

He was active in the state and local bar associations, and was a leader in a group that mentors young trial lawyers. But he largely stayed out of the spotlight and away from politics. In 2010, he and his wife gave a $50 contribution to a Republican candidate for the State Legislature — the only political donation found in state and national campaign-finance databases.

Former colleagues said they did not know his religious background. The judge did not respond to emails and a phone call requesting an interview.

His answers to questions about empathy in judges, and whether judges should protect the “little guy,” are as mild as a glass of milk. “I believe it is the judge’s responsibility to reach decisions based exclusively on the application of established precedent to the specific facts presented,” he wrote.

But this month, when it was time to decide a case brought by three gay couples challenging Utah’s ban on same-sex marriages, Judge Shelby appeared to be moved by their stories. In his 50-page ruling, he repeated the stories of how each couple met and fell in love, referring to them not only as plaintiffs or by last name, but as Derek and Moudi, Karen and Kate, Laurie and Kody.

He wrote that Utah’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violated the Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection under the law, and said that the ban denied gay and lesbian couples “their fundamental right to marry.”