Born In Jerusalem--But Can't Say So Officially

What happens if you are born in Jerusalem but the US says you can't say so?

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an appeal from an American born in Jerusalem over whether he can have Israel listed as his birthplace on his passport even though U.S. policy does not recognize the once-divided city as belonging to Israel.

The court is stepping into a case that mixes the thorny politics of the Middle East and a fight between Congress and the president over primacy in foreign policy.


The justices will review an appeals court ruling against Jerusalem-born Menachem Zivotofsky and his parents, U.S.-born Jews who moved to Israel in 2000. They filed a lawsuit after State Department officials refused to list Israel as Menachem’s birthplace.

The boy was born in a Jerusalem hospital in October 2002, shortly after Congress directed, in a federal law, that Americans born in Jerusalem may have Israel listed as their place of birth. But the Bush administration said Congress may not tell the president what to do regarding this aspect of foreign relations. The Obama administration agrees with its predecessor.

When the high court hears arguments in the fall, the issues will be whether the congressional directive impermissibly interferes with the president’s power, and whether the courts should play any role in the dispute between Congress and the president.

I'm curious to see how it is that Congress can say the President should move the US embassy to Jerusalem, but cannot say that Jerusalem can be indicated as one's place of birth. Bush may have utilized the loophole not to move the embassy, but he did not say outright that Congress could not recognize Jerusalem as the place the US embassy should be.

Technorati Tag: Jerusalem.