1-23-23 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

BickerstafF Heath Delgado Acosta LLP Evenwel v. Abbott: Redistricting and the Meaning of Political Representation, 2016 American Bar Association Conference (San Francisco) Applying a Bi-Racial Jurisprudence in a Tri-Ethnic World, 2015 American Bar Association Conference (Chicago) Voting Rights Symposium, Panelist, St. Mary's University School of Law Bob has extensive experience representing governmental entities in voting rights lawsuits. A notable suit includes Chen v. City of Houston, 206 F.3d 502 (5th Cir. 2000), in which the City of Houston obtained a summary judgment dismissing a Shaw v. Reno challenge to its council districts. Bob authored an amicus brief on behalf of Harris County in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Evenwel v. Abbott. The suit attempted to require the use of voter -eligible population (e.g., citizen -voting - age population) in the allocation of state legislative seats. If the plaintiffs had been successful, it would have resulted in Harris County losing two to three state representative seats. Additionally, it would have made it more difficult to draw districts where Hispanics had an equal opportunity to be elected. The constitutional issue of the appropriate measure of population was one that the Firm had successfully litigated in the Fifth Circuit and in defending against petitions for certiorari in Chen and in Lepak v. City of Irving. The U.S. Supreme Court sustained Harris County's position. Bob has spoken and delivered papers on redistricting throughout the United States and is recognized as an expert in this area of law. His article, Managing the Political Thicket: Developing Objective Standards in Voting Rights Litigation, 21 Stetson L. Rev. 819 (1992) was quoted and cited by the United States Supreme Court in Holder v. Hall, 512 U.S. 874, 889 (1994) (O'Connor, J., concurring). Sydney W. Falk, Jr., Partner Prior to joining the Firm, Syd Falk worked as a briefing attorney to the Hon. Will Garwood at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Syd graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1984 and is licensed to practice law by the Supreme Court of the State of Texas and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States. As one of the Firm's senior redistricting attorneys, Syd has substantial experience having served as a redistricting attorney or team leader on dozens of redistricting projects in 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021. He has been responsible for redistricting by Texas local government entities of all types, including cities, counties, school districts, and special districts. In the 2001 redistricting cycle, he worked on the redistricting of Missouri City, Bexar County, Dallas County, Tarrant County, Dallas ISD, Austin ISD, and dozens of others. In the 2011 cycle, he represented (among 2