Tariq Ramadan: ACLU takes Bush admin to court over his visa revocation

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal court in New York for a preliminary order to stop the administration from banning a prominent Swiss Muslim scholar from speaking in the United States.

The scholar, Tariq Ramadan, has been barred from this country since his visa was revoked in July 2004, a week before he was scheduled to begin a job at the University of Notre Dame. Administration officials explained the action by citing a USA Patriot Act ban of foreigners who "espouse terrorist activity." Mr. Ramadan has been invited to address a writers' conference in New York on April 25