U.S. Supreme Court to review Jerusalem birthplace law

A 2002 law designed to allow U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their birthplace has not been enforced by the State Department.


By Reuters | Apr. 21, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to weigh the constitutionality of a U.S. law that was designed to allow American citizens born in Jerusalem - the historic holy city claimed by Israelis and Palestinians - to have Israel listed as their birthplace on passports.

The case revolves around the long-standing policy that the president - and not Congress - has sole authority to state who controls Jerusalem. Seeking to remain neutral on the hotly contested issue, the U.S. State Department, which issues passports, allows them to name Jerusalem as a place of birth, but no country name is included.

The law under discussion was passed by Congress in 2002, but has not been enforced by the State Department on the grounds that it violates the separation of executive and legislative powers laid out in the U.S. Constitution.

When Republican President George W. Bush signed the law, he said that, if construed as mandatory rather than advisory, it would "impermissibly interfere" with the president's authority to speak for the country on international affairs.

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