Editing Joe Roth (section)

==Early life==
Roth was born on June 13, 1948<ref name="DOB"/> to Frances and Lawrence Roth.<ref>[http://www.nyclu.org/news/obituary-steven-engel-plaintiff-landmark-school-prayer-case New York Civil Liberties Union: "Obituary: Steven Engel, Plaintiff in Landmark School Prayer Case"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103114145/http://www.nyclu.org/news/obituary-steven-engel-plaintiff-landmark-school-prayer-case |date=November 3, 2016 }} February 6, 2008</ref> He has stated that his [[Jewish]] family faced various forms of harassment growing up in a heavily Catholic part of [[Long Island, New York]]. This involved incidents like "a cross being burned on the lawn and some of Roth's schoolmates crossed themselves before they would speak to him."<ref>{{cite web|last=Masters|first=Kim|title=Joe Roth's 'Third Act': From 'Gigli' to Billion-Dollar Producer and Pro Soccer Superstar|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/joe-roths-third-act-gigli-655374|date=November 14, 2013|access-date=February 6, 2021|website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref> In 1959, Roth's father volunteered his son to be a plaintiff in the [[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]]'s effort to abolish [[School prayer in the United States|mandatory prayer in public schools]]. The case, filed in New York, went through several appeals, finally reaching the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in 1962. The Court ruled that such prayer was [[Constitutionality#Unconstitutional laws in the United States|unconstitutional]] under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]], in the landmark case of ''[[Engel v. Vitale]]''.<ref>Hammer, Joshua. "The Sly Dog at Fox". ''[[Newsweek]]'', May 25, 1992.</ref>

Roth attended [[Boston University]], graduating in 1970 with a [[bachelor's degree]] in [[communication studies|communication]].<ref name="BU Bridge" />