Born in Topeka, Stegall is a lifelong resident of Douglas and Jefferson Counties in northeast Kansas.
Law practice
At the time of his appointment by Brownback, the Kansas Democratic Party issued a release criticizing Brownback for the appointment due to his connection to disbarred attorney Phill Kline. He represented the State of Kansas in litigation with environmentalists over the permitting of coal-fired power plants. Stegall represented eight American missionaries detained in Haiti following the 2010 Haiti earthquake who were accused by Haitian officials of trying to take children to the Dominican Republic without proper documentation. In 2008 he successfully defended the former executive director of the Kansas Republican Party in a dispute over Kansas campaign finance rules. In 2007 he was the lead counsel in the Kansas Supreme Court trial of former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline based on perjury, an illegal file transfer, and misleading legal guidance. In 2008, Stegall represented a group of residents opposed public financing of casino operations in Kansas City, Kansas. In 2008 he represented a church that challenged local regulations on the church's operations as a homeless shelter. In 2009 he represented a teacher who claimed he had not been rehired because of his conservative political beliefs. As district attorney, he filed charges in 2009 against a county commissioner charged with theft by deception. and in 2010 was involved with a federal and state investigation of a distributor of "ethnobotanicals" who was accused of selling a synthetic cannabis. He has worked as general counsel for Americans for Prosperity and on the executive committee of Audubon of Kansas.
Politics
Stegall has been identified as an advocate for traditionalist conservatism and a "prairie populist". In 2004, he was profiled on the front page of The New York Times as one of a young generation of conservatives questioning GOP orthodoxy. On January 12, 2009, Stegall began his first term as Jefferson County District Attorney. He has been characterized by the blog Firedoglake as a "rising religious-right political star", has been suggested as a possible candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010 by Rod Dreher and has been described as representing a new path for the GOP in the post-Bush years.
Religion
Stegall is a ruling elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He has been described as a "lifelong conservative Presbyterian," whose faith and life is "strongly countercultural to mainstream Evangelicalism," although he still identifies himself as an evangelical. Stegall and his wife Ann homeschool their children.
Writings
In 2003, Stegall created and founded, with others, an online journal of religion, politics, and culture called The New Pantagruel. In 2006, Stegall and The New Pantagruel were featured in Rod Dreher's book, Crunchy Cons, as leaders in the resurgence of traditionalist conservatism. Though The New Pantagruel was discontinued at the end of 2006, Stegall's writing continues to appear in conservative papers, magazines, and journals including National Review Online, Christianity Today, The Intercollegiate Review, The American Conservative, Taki's Magazine, and Touchstone Magazine. Stegall authors a semi-regular column on Kansas politics for the independent publication Kansas Liberty. Stegall has authored chapters in several books, including the chapter on "Community" in the book .
