JNS.org

June 8, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law that enabled Americans born in Jerusalem—which the U.S. government does not recognize as a part of any country—to list “born in Israel” on their passports, on the grounds that Congress overstepped the president’s authority on foreign affairs.

In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court said that the “the power to recognize foreign states and governments and their territorial bounds is exclusive to the Presidency.” The case in question involved a 12-year-old boy, Menachem Zivotofsky, whose parents sought to list “Jerusalem, Israel” as the birthplace on his U.S. passport.

The U.S. government does not recognize any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and maintains that its status must be resolved through negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Israel took control of he eastern portion of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and considers the entire city to be its eternal and undivided capital.

To read the rest of this article in the Algemeiner Journal, click here.