Free Republic

Lawyers for the Obama administration compared Israel’s control of Jerusalem to Russian claims over the Ukrainian territory of Crimea during oral arguments this week before the Supreme Court in a case concerning the rights of U.S. citizens to list Jerusalem as part of Israel on their passports. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who is rumored to be in the running to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, drew the comparison on Monday while he attempted to convince the Supreme Court that Jerusalem is not officially part of Israel. The controversial case hinges around Menachem Zivotofsky, who was born in Jerusalem...

The US Supreme Court Monday decided to hear the case of an American born in Jerusalem, once again taking up the sensitive issue of the status of the contested city, according to AFP. The justices will hear arguments in the case in the fall before deciding on the constitutionality of a 2002 law that directs the State Department to give Israel as the country of birth in passports of Americans born in Jerusalem. At the center of the struggle between the Congress and the presidency is Menachem Zivotofsky, who was born in Jerusalem in 2002 to two American parents. …

On Tuesday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Americans born in Jerusalem cannot put “Israel” as place of birth on their birth certificates. Judge Karen Henderson wrote that the president “exclusively holds the power to determine whether to recognize a foreign sovereign,” and that the president had not recognized Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. Congress passed a law in 2002 dictating that Americans living in Jerusalem could label their children’s birthplace “Israel,” but the State Department has refused to enforce that law for over a decade. Over 50,000 Americans have...

A federal appeals court Tuesday declared unconstitutional a law allowing Americans born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their birthplace on their U.S. passports, the latest ruling in a case that stretches back a decade. … The case was brought by parents of an American boy named Menachem Zivotofsky, who was born in a Jerusalem hospital soon after the law was passed. The parents wanted to list Israel as his birthplace, but the U.S. has refused to recognize any nation's sovereignty over Jerusalem since Israel’s creation in 1948—so the boy’s U.S. passport only says “Jerusalem” as his birthplace. The Bush...