US Supreme Court cancels law allowing Jerusalem-born citizens to list Israel as birth place on passports

In Washington, the United States Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law passed by Congress that would have allowed Americans born in Jerusalem to list their Israel as birthplace on their passports.

The court ruled by 6 votes to 3 that Congress  overstepped its authority when it approved the law in 2002. It would have forced the State Department to alter its longstanding policy of not listing Israel as the birthplace for Jerusalem-born Americans.

The policy is part of the government’s refusal to recognize any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem, until Israelis and Palestinians resolve its status through negotiations.

The court held that the US president had the exclusive power to recognize foreign nations, and that the power to determine what a passport says is part of this power. “Recognition is a matter on which the nation must speak with one voice. That voice is the president’s,” the ruling, which ended a lawsuit brought by the 12-year-old Jerusalem-born US citizen Menachem Zivotofsky and his parents, said.

Justice Antonin Scalia dissented and said the Constitution “divides responsibility for foreign affairs between Congress and the president.” Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito joined the dissent. In a separate dissent, Roberts cast the court’s decision as dangerously ground-breaking. “The court takes the perilous step — for the first time in our history — of allowing the president to defy an act of Congress in the field of foreign affairs,” Roberts wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the outcome of the case, but on narrower grounds.

The status of Jerusalem has for decades been among the most vexing issues in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Israel has controlled all of Jerusalem since the Six-Day War in 1967 and has repeatedly proclaimed a united Jerusalem as its eternal capital. The Palestinians have declared that East Jerusalem will be the capital of their independent state.

US policy has long refrained from recognizing any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and has held that the city’s status should be resolved through negotiations between the parties. Congress has for years tried to push administrations of both parties to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The US never enforced the passport law, which is on the books since 2002.

Congress and the White House have argued for decades over support for Israel’s position on Jerusalem. In 1995, the legislature essentially adopted the Israeli position, saying that the US should recognize a united Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. In 2002, lawmakers passed new provisions urging the president to take steps to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and allowing Americans born in Jerusalem to have their place of birth listed as Israel.

Republican President George W. Bush signed the 2002 provisions into law but noted that “US policy regarding Jerusalem has not changed.” His Democratic successor Barack Obama has taken the same stance.