James Roth:  

I am married to Susan, who I met in an English class at the University of Minnesota in 1973. We were married on June 18, 1977. I attended the University of Minnesota, studied English Literature, and obtained my B.A. in December 1973. I attended the University of Minnesota Law School and graduated in June 1977. Susan and I were married one week later. I taught at the University of Miami Law School while Susan completed her law degree. I then worked in private practice in Minneapolis. Susan is also a lawyer and has worked with Nan Miller, one of our classmates in the firm of Trotzky, Miller and Roth. She also lobbied for Family and Children's Services of Minneapolis. She worked at Minnesota State Planning from the end of the Perpich administration through the beginning of the Pawlenty administration (when it was decided that long-range planning was no longer needed). (One year, Minnesota State Planning won all three annual awards given by the Department of Justice Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics for reports she wrote and edited.), She then worked as Ramsey County Recorder. She is now retired. I am retired from practicing law. One of my long-time passions is international human rights. I was one of the co-founders and the Advocates For Human Rights and the Center For Victims of Torture in the early 1980s. I continue to lobby on a volunteer basis on international human rights and foreign policy issues. I wrote the initial draft of an anti-torture bill introduced as the McCain-Feinstein Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015. It was passed as Section 1045 and eventually signed into law by President Obama. I also lobby the Minnesota State Legislature on human rights and disability-related issues. I worked with a group called Autism Treatment Association of Minnesota, including Lincoln classmate Nancy Schussler, to pass a law requiring insurance companies or provide coverage for a form of treatment for children who are severely autistic called Applied Behavior Analysis. I'm currently working with a group of small group homes that provide treatment for people with advanced dementia and Lincoln graduate Dawn Kuzma to amend Minnesota laws that were passed to deal with abuse and neglect of seniors in large nursing homes but that place unreasonable regulatory burdens ...Expand for more