The Austin American-Statesman and Houston Chronicle have published an op-ed written by Steve Bickerstaff, an adjunct professor who teaches election law at the Law School, about the recent criminal conviction of former U.S. Representative Tom DeLay.
Bickerstaff was called as a witness in DeLay’s money-laundering trial in Travis County. DeLay was convicted on November 24, 2010, on charges that he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.
Read Bickerstaff’s op-ed in the Statesman and in the Houston Chronicle.
Bickerstaff, who left the Law School in 1970, served as parliamentarian of the Texas Senate and special assistant to the Texas Attorney General before founding the private law firm of Bickerstaff & Heath in 1980. The firm continues to be one of the premier election law firms in the country. Bickerstaff retired from the private practice of law in 2001 after thirty-five years, but serves on several nonprofit corporation boards in additon to teaching at the Law School.
He is the author of Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom DeLay (2007), a book about the controversial 2003 congressional redistricting in Texas; a coauthor of International Election Principles (2009); and an author of more than twenty-five law journal articles dealing primarily with election law or telecommunications regulation.
The Austin Chronicle recently recommended Bickerstaff’s Lines in the Sand for its 2010 holiday gift guide, stating, “It’s not often that we would recommend a three-year-old book for our gift guide, but this title suddenly regained its timeliness with last week’s conviction of Tom DeLay, the return of redistricting in the upcoming legislative session, and this new paperback edition.”
Contact: Laura Castro, UT Law Communications, 512-232-1229, lcastro@law.utexas.edu.