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US government overturns previous order denying entry to 2 Muslim scholars

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an order Wednesday authorizing two previously excluded Muslim scholars who strongly criticized US foreign policy to enter the country. During the Bush administration, the US government barred professors Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University and Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg from entering the country, claiming both had ties to terrorism. Clinton said Wednesday that neither posed a security threat. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented both professors in separate lawsuits seeking to have the men admitted into the US, released a statement approving the decision. ACLU Security Project Director Jameel Jaffer applauded the decision as "a welcome sign that the Obama administration is committed to facilitating, rather than obstructing, the exchange of ideas across international borders." Ramadan stated, "I am very happy and hopeful that I will be able to visit the United States very soon and to once again engage in an open, critical and constructive dialogue with American scholars and intellectuals." Habib called the decision "a victory for democracy around the world." A status conference for Ramadan's case was held Wednesday afternoon in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to determine how the case should proceed in light of Clinton's order. Both professors must still go through the standard visa application process before they can enter the US. In July, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the district court had improperly granted summary judgment to the government in its decision to deny Ramadan's visa application. The government alleged that Ramadan, who had been invited to teach at Notre Dame, provided material support to a terrorist organization by donating to a charity with some financial ties to Hamas. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in 2006 on behalf of the American Academy of Religion, the American Association of University Professors, and the PEN American Center. The ACLU challenged the exclusion on First Amendment grounds. In 2008, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the court could review the US Consulate in South Africa's decision to deny Habib's visa application.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 21, 2010 (boomark / email).