David Roach

David Rocah

Senior Staff Attorney

Legal

Bio

David Rocah is the Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Maryland. He Joined the staff in 2001. He has worked on significant cases involving free speech, police misconduct, LGBT rights, privacy, reproductive freedom, immigrants’ rights, election law, and more. In 2009, the Maryland Daily Record selected him as one of Maryland’s “Ten Most Influential Lawyers”. In 2011, he was an inaugural recipient of the James Baldwin Medal for Civil Rights. He previously worked as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the U. S. Department of Justice, where his work focused on police misconduct and conditions in prisons, jails, and other state institutions. Prior to that, David was a staff attorney with the ACLU of New Jersey. David is a 1994 honors graduate of NYU School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar.  After law school, David served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders in Dallas, Texas.  He is a native of Chicago, IL, and has a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Chicago.

Featured Work

News & Commentary
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  • Police Practices|
  • +2 Issues

Baltimore City Cannot Evade Responsibility For The Gun Trace Task Force

When Baltimore City’s chief lawyer Andre Davis reaffirmed several weeks ago that the City would not always agree to pay punitive damages judgments awarded against Baltimore Police Officers who intentionally and flagrantly abuse their authority, many people in Baltimore, including us at the ACLU of Maryland, cheered.  The hope was that holding officers personally accountable for paying those (very rare) punitive damages would help deter that kind of egregious misconduct.  So when the City announced after the verdict in the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) trial that it would not pay any damages awarded against the officers who plead or were found guilty, it is not surprising that some people also saw that as a step forward for individual police accountability.  But it isn’t.  Instead, it is a transparent attempt to again shift the cost of the BPD’s own repeated and systemic failures onto the people who have been victimized.
News & Commentary
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  • Privacy & Technology|
  • +2 Issues

I'VE ASKED FOR MY DATA - WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Today at the ACLU of Maryland, we are taking our data back and we want you to join us.

Related Content

News & Commentary
Korryn Gaines and her son
  • Legal Justice System|
  • +2 Issues

Defend Kodi Gaines' Rights

The family of Korryn and Kodi Gaines is suing to bring accountability for Kodi Gaines. Seven years ago, Baltimore County Police Officer Royce Ruby shot and killed 23-year-old Korryn Gaines. In the process, the officer also critically wounded her son, then five-year old Kodi.
News & Commentary
Image shows a snow gloge with ACLU of Maryland staff shown in a grid in a Zoom meeting. The bottom says Happy Holidays on a navy blue background slightly angled. The background of the image is a dark fuschia with sparkles.
  • Racial Justice|
  • +10 Issues

Celebrating Civil Liberties Moments During These Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is in full swing! But as you know, advocating for civil rights is a year-long job. Not only do we want to celebrate the many cultural and religious holidays that occur worldwide during these winter months, but we also want to celebrate some civil liberties moments that occurred during past holiday seasons. We like to think of these civil liberties victories as gifts and these civil rights fights as moments in time that inspire celebration and reflection.