Veteran lawyer Gerry Goldstein is known for taking on cases that challenge him and address higher constitutional principles, colleagues say.

He appears to be getting both with his latest undertaking: The San Antonio lawyer is representing the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist sect whose 1,700-acre compound was searched by authorities after a 16-year-old girl there called a family violence shelter to report her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her.