End Ideological Exclusion

PEN and 59 other organizations have signed a letter calling on attorney general Eric Holder to stop the practice of denying U.S. visas to foreign writers and intellectuals whose views do not appeal to the State Department. The practice (started during the Cold War) was revived during the Bush administration. One of its victims is the Swiss-Egyptian scholar Tariq Ramadan, whose case will be appealed in court in a few days. It will be interesting to see what happens.