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.

07/23/2007
Detention

The Naked Emperor

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:53pm
So, there's been this weird story circulating in the press generated by the Gitmo debate about a Army reservist who signed an affidavit strongly critical of the Combatant Status Review Process. The reservist, an Army Colonel named Steven Abraham was responsible for running a database that organized and cataloged data related to the CSRTs. He a
Read More»
07/23/2007
Detention

So, That's Who Leaked the Deathly Hallows!

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:37am
Jackson Diehl at the Washington Post reports on the importance of positive reinforcement in Gitmo interrogation.
Yes, I was on a tour organized by the Pentagon; but no, the scene I witnessed was not a staged departure from a norm of pressure and pain. Rather, it was a sign of what five years of experience have taught Guantanamo's inter
Read More»
07/19/2007
Detention

From Gitmo to Bagram?

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:43am
This is very interesting. Bush appointee refuses to dismiss a habeas petition filed by detainee held not at Gitmo, but at Bagram in Afghanistan.
A federal judge in Washington on Wednesday upheld the right of a Yemeni man held as an enemy combatant at a U.S. military priso
Read More»
07/17/2007
Detention

Another Detainee Transfer

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:17am
07/15/2007
Detention

Take Action

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:18pm
Do it. Do it now. ACLU alert.
Read More»
07/15/2007
Detention

When Ed Boards Attack...

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:47pm
Okay, so there's no liberal media bias---sorry boys and girls, you know it's true---but one has to love the New York Times editorial board. Unlike the Washington Post's cohort of professional fence-sitters, the Times hits all of the high notes in the Gitmo debate on this fine Sunday: Read More»
07/12/2007
Detention

FARC Leader Convicted

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:56pm
I posted about this a while ago. A federal court convicted the Columbian FARC leader, Ricardo Palmera, two days ago for the abduction of three military contractors, held for years as de facto POWs in the Americo-Columbian campaign to interdict narcotics from the Coca-rich fiel
Read More»
07/10/2007
Detention

Laird Redux

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:06am
I realize this is a little outside my bailiwick, but I wanted to mention one little historical footnote in relation to last week's decision in ACLU v. NSA. At the heart of Friday's decision dismissing the ACLU's suit against the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program is the
Read More»
07/10/2007
Detention

How Many Other Shoes Can Drop?

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:22am
The Post lede speaks for itself:
As he sought to renew the USA Patriot Act two years ago, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales assured lawmakers that the FBI had not abused its potent new terrorism-fighting powers. "There has not been one v
Read More»
07/06/2007
Detention

Clients vs. Acolytes

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:00pm
Rosa Brooks, law professor and LA Times columnist, nails it once again, ridiculing the media's incredulity at the recent Libby commutation, the Cheney power-grab reported in the Post and the rest of the "oh, wow" newfound fright at the Bush admin
Read More»
Statistics image