He was a freestyle and backstroke swimmer in a New Jersey Jewish Community Center swim league and completed his Water Safety Instructor Certificate in 1971.

From 1974 to 1977 Rothman attended the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree in 1977.

In January 1980, he started his own firm for the general practice law in Englewood in a two-room office over a barber shop on Depot Square.

Rothman became active in Englewood community affairs, serving as president of the Scarborough Manor Tenants' Association, where he performed pro bono legal services for the poor and elderly faced with eviction following condominium conversion.

[14] In December 1982, just before the start of Rothman's first mayoral term, the Libyan government bought a five-acre estate "on the hill" in Englewood.

[16] After he was sworn in, Rothman went to Washington, D.C., to lobby the Reagan State Department to use the newly enacted "Foreign Missions Act" to restrict the use of the estate to the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations and his family.

In June 1983, the Foreign Missions Office of the State Department announced its decision to implement the "Act" by limiting use of the property to strictly residential and recreational purposes for the Ambassador and his immediate family.

[17] In the summer of 2009, in advance of the U.N. General Assembly Meeting, it was discovered that Kaddafi was significantly renovating the Englewood mansion and grounds to be used as one of his homes.

[23] In 1991, Rothman hosted 500 Christians, Jews, Muslims, Bahais and Sikhs for the 5th Annual Brotherhood/Sisterhood Interfaith Breakfast, sponsored by the JCRC.

[25] During Rothman's administration, he provided the Bergen County Surrogate's Office with uniformly modern computers, which enabled a 55% increase in cases processed while reducing the number of employees by 10% through attrition.

In 1996, incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey's 9th congressional district decided to run for the United States Senate that was being vacated by Bill Bradley, creating a vacancy in the House seat.

[34]  Farmer had previously held the roles of Chief Counsel and New Jersey Attorney General under Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

[35] On 23 December 2012, the commission chose a map advocated by Republican members, which combined New Jersey's 8th and 9th congressional districts, represented by William Pascrell and Steve Rothman respectively.

[36][37] The Republican Plan chosen by the Redistricting Commission removed seven of the largest Democratic vote-producing municipalities from the 9th congressional district.

Judiciary Committee (1997–2001) House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime (1997–2001) During his time in Congress, Rothman traveled to, among other places, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, the West Bank and other locations to visit with U.S. troops, their commanders, foreign heads of state, as well as U.S. and foreign diplomatic, military and intelligence leaders.

Rothman argued that while the President's conduct was "irresponsible and reprehensible," it did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense under the U.S. Constitution ("treason, bribery or other high crime and misdemeanor").

[43][44] As a U.S. congressman, Rothman played a key role in preserving the Hackensack Meadowlands, successfully securing millions of dollars in federal funding for the protection, remediation and study of the area.

In 2003, the Mills Corporation agreed to relocate the mall to the Continental Arena in East Rutherford,[46] and the state began to purchase land to create the "Meadowlands Preserve"[46] and rezone the area as undevelopable.

Boeing filed an F.A.A complaint, and the agency proposed a policy change requiring airports to provide evidence of the potential damages that occasional heavier planes would cause.

[49] The port authority and Rothman both criticised the proposed exceptions, and in 2003 Rothman authored a measure to stop the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from lifting the 100,000-pound weight limit at Teterboro Airport, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and signed into law by President George W.

[65] The Iron Dome system was purchased by the US military in 2019 and Arrow 3 was successfully tested by the US and Israel in Alaska in July of that year.

[66] On October 3, 2008, Rothman voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), saying that while the Bush administration was asking for $700 billion in relief for giant financial institutions, it had refused Rothman's and other members' requests that those institutions be required to allow the modification of principal and interest obligations to underwater mortgage-holding homeowners that would prevent them from being foreclosed upon and losing their homes.

3939 "To re-designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14–24 Abbott Road in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, as the "Mary Ann Collura Post Office Building".

[72][73][74] On April 22, 2010, in response to a request by their families and local officials, Rothman sponsored H. R. 5133 "To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 331 1st Street in Carlstadt, New Jersey, as the "Staff Sergeant Frank T. Carvill and Lance Corporal Michael A. Schwarz Post Office Building".

Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Carvill was killed by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad, Iraq on June 4, 2004.

[80][81][82][83][84] During the national debate on the Affordable Health Care Act, Rothman held 10 town hall meetings on that subject during August 2009.

Now, al Qaeda has joined him....The thought of Saddam Hussein sending these same al-Qaeda 'martyrs' to America to spray chemical or biological poisons over America's reservoirs in our most populated cities, is a thought so horrifying, yet so real a possibility, that I cannot in good conscience especially after the surprise attack of Sept. 22, permit this to happen.

[90] On February 22, 2006, at a press conference, as well as in an op-ed published in The Record newspaper the next day, Rothman became the first member of New Jersey's congressional delegation to publicly call for a withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.

[93] For eight days in mid-February 2007, Rothman traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Kuwait as one of 15 members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Rothman was also quoted as saying "The United States should be involved as advisors to the military in Iraq and we should be playing a very robust diplomatic role instead of remaining in combat.