Steve Bickerstaff

Robert Stephen Bickerstaff Jr. (April 15, 1946 – October 4, 2019) was a lawyer, legal scholar, expert on redistricting, and book author.[1]

Bickerstaff attended the University of Texas at Austin (BA, 1968) and the University of Texas School of Law (JD). He was on active duty as a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force (1971–1973).[2] He served as Parliamentarian of the Senate of Texas (1975–1976)[2] after serving as a counsel for the Texas Constitutional Convention (1974) and the Texas Constitutional Revision Commission (1973). Beginning in 1976, he served as an assistant attorney general of Texas.[2] In 1980, he formed the private law firm of Bickerstaff, Heath and Smiley, now Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado, Acosta.[2] Bickerstaff was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas Law School in Austin, Texas, beginning in 1992.[1]

In 2007, the University of Texas Press published his book Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom DeLay. The book covers the history of the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting and its aftermath.[3] He is also the author or co-author of two books of legal analysis published by the Texas Legislative Council,[2] and author of the forthcoming book Election Systems and Gerrymandering Worldwide (Springer, 2020).[4]