Blog of Rights
Gabe
Rottman

Gabe Rottman is a legislative counsel/policy advisor in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, focusing on the First Amendment. Gabe served as an attorney in private practice before coming back to the ACLU. Prior to law school, Gabe worked in the WLO as a senior writer and communications specialist. Gabe has a J.D. magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a notes editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, and a B.A. from McGill University in political science and history, where he was on the dean’s honors list.

03/29/2012
Freedom of Expression

Hoodies and Congressional Expression

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:04pm

It was hard to miss on TV or online yesterday the spectacle of Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush of Chicago being ejected from the House floor for wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

After taking off his jacket and raising the hood over his head during a speech in tribute to Florida shooting victim Trayvon Martin, the presiding officer instructed the Sergeant-at-Arms to give Rush the boot, ostensibly to enforce the House rules on decorum. Now we all know you can’t wear hats while Congress is in session.

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05/11/2007
Detention

James Spader

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:20pm
This is brilliant.
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02/08/2006
FISA

Activists vs. Career Politicians?

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:34pm
The Washington Post has a look at the strange dynamic dividing many members of the conservative base in D.C. from their traditional allies over the illegal NSA spying. The article specifically mentions the libertarian Cato Institute, but the same dynamic is visible with grassroots leaders and activists like Bob Barr or David Keene's American Conservative Union.
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07/11/2012
Freedom of Expression

“Stolen Valor” Bill Honorable Sentiment, But Bad Idea

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:29pm

“Lying was his habit.”

That’s the first line from Justice Kennedy’s plurality opinion in United States v. Alvarez, last month’s Supreme Court decision striking down the “Stolen Valor Act,” which made it a federal crime to lie about having been awarded a military decoration.  

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04/11/2012
Freedom of Association

That's a Good Question?!

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 7:51pm

So, Rep. Allen West—Republican from 1955—is apparently trying to single-handedly refight the Cold War. At an event today, somebody asked the Florida lawmaker how many members of Congress are “card-carrying Marxists.” His answer: “[n]o, it’s a good question. I believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party. . . . It’s called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.”

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03/26/2012
Video Games

Bill Proposes Labeling Video Games Like Cigarettes

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:57pm

Representatives Joe Baca (D-CA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) introduced a deceptively simple bill last week that is totally unnecessary, potentially very harmful to Americans’ First Amendment rights and needlessly tries to play parent for millions of American kids.

The bill, designated H.R. 4204, would require every video game with a rating above “E-for-Everyone” from the Electronic Software Rating Board (or “ESRB”) to carry the ominous, tobacco-style admonition: “WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.” 

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08/29/2007
Detention

A Green Wall of Silence?

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:17pm
08/01/2007

As the President Plays the Fear Card, Gonzales' Shoe Looks Likelier to Drop

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:54pm
Between the tussle over subpoenas, the possibility of contempt or perjury charges, and criticism from both parties over no less than three separate scandals, it's no surprise that the press has begun to tack on "embattled" to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' name.

And the Hill's restlessness over the AG and his programs may also be the reason President Bush is n
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06/15/2007
Detention

Happy Birthday Habeas- Human Rights

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:49pm
Dear Habeas, Happy Birthday! It has been pointed out that even during the most dismal periods of the Dark Ages in Europe that Habeas Corpus was still always upheld. The United States is quickly becoming a rogue nation that represents fear and does not protect human rights - even for its own people - instead of a model for leadership and freedom in t
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06/15/2007
Detention

Happy Birthday Habeas- Waiting for Acknowledgement

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:29pm
I remember your birthday although it seems many have no memory that you exist! I continue to remind them that you are yet alive and waiting for them to acknowldege you! Happy Birthday, RAH -Richard A, IN
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