Denial of Visa To Muslim Scholar Upheld By Court

Yesterday in American Academy of Religion v. Chertoff, (SDNY, Dec. 20, 2007), a New York federal district court upheld the U.S. government's denial of a visa to Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Muslim scholar who had originally been offered a tenured position at the University of Notre Dame, and who later wished to attend other academic events in the United States. The court found that the government had articulated a facially legitimate and bona fide reason to exclude Ramadan. He had contributed funds to an organization which he knew, or should have known, provided funds to Hamas, a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. The court refused to pass on the constitutionality of a separate provision of the Patriot Act that excludes from the U.S. any alien who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity". The ACLU issued a release criticizing the decision. It said: "The ACLU continues to believe that Ramadan, a leading European academic whose work addresses Muslim identity and the role of Islam in democratic societies, remains banned due to his political viewpoints."