A federal district judge in New York has given the federal government ninety days to act on the visa application of Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar who had been appointed to a faculty position at Notre Dame University. In 2004, just as he was ready to move to the U.S., his visa was revoked without explanation. Notre Dame then reapplied for a visa for him, but the government did not act on the application. This forced Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who is one of the most prominent European thinkers about Islam, to resign his Notre Dame position.
Instead of deciding the First and Fifth Amendment issues raised in the complaint, the court in American Academy of Religion v. Chertoff, (SDNY, June 23, 2006) held that the government has failed to adjudicate Ramadan's via application within a reasonable period of time as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (5 USC 555(b)). The decision is covered by today's Inside Higher Ed.
