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SCOTUS Sides With Obama (And Bush) In Fight Over Israeli Passports
National Journal ^ | June 8, 2015 | Sam Baker

Posted on 06/08/2015 7:30:38 AM PDT by rickyrikardo

The Supreme Court on Monday said Congress overstepped its bounds when it tried to force the president's hand in a hot-button dispute over the Middle East.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court struck down a 2002 law requiring the State Department to recognize Jerusalem as a part of Israel — over the objections of both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, which had refused to implement the law. The Supreme Court sided with the executive branch on Monday.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Israel
KEYWORDS: israel; jerusalem; news; passports; scotus
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To: Alberta's Child
If I was a U.S. citizen born in East Berlin in the 1950s, I wonder how the U.S. State Department would list my place of birth if I went and got a passport for the first time today?

The section of the law the petitioner and SCOTUS found unconstitutional stated the State Department will print Jerusalem, Israel as the place of birth for a US citizen if the US citizen requested it. Without a request from the US citizen, the State Department printed the place of birth as Jerusalem. It's an attack on an individual's liberty and free speech.

SEC. 214. UNITED STATES POLICY WITH RESPECT TO JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL.

(d) Record of Place of Birth as Israel for Passport Purposes.--For purposes of the registration of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport of a United States citizen born in the city of Jerusalem, the Secretary shall, upon the request of the citizen or the citizen's legal guardian, record the place of birth as Israel.


21 posted on 06/08/2015 8:45:50 AM PDT by SvenMagnussen (1983 ... the year Obama became a naturalized U.S. citizen.)
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To: Alberta's Child
On its face, the 2002 passport regulation is highly questionable. It actually gives the holder of the passport the right to decide how their country of origin is to be listed on their own passport. This sounds ridiculous on its face.

Wow! That does sound ridiculous.

Thanks for all that background, Freepers like you are what make this site so great!

22 posted on 06/08/2015 8:49:21 AM PDT by Jack Black ( Disarmament of a targeted group is one of the surest early warning signs of future genocide.)
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To: rickyrikardo

Not only is this ruling Wrong, but Jerusalem is the Capital on Israel and will always be. It is time we get on God’s side.


23 posted on 06/08/2015 9:27:47 AM PDT by JohnT416
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To: SvenMagnussen
How can this be an attack on "free speech" if there are only two options given?

This might be the ultimate "be careful what you wish for" scenario if you really want to make an argument based on free speech. This would not be a good outcome, for an obvious reason: Under that scenario, the U.S. State Department would have no authority to refuse a request when someone comes forward and demands that they have "Jerusalem, Palestine" listed on their passport.

24 posted on 06/08/2015 9:34:52 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ( "It doesn't work for me. I gotta have more cowbell!")
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

The label isn’t wrong at all. It’s just that it’s not possible to list it “correctly” when the legal status of the geographic area in question is still in dispute.


25 posted on 06/08/2015 9:36:25 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ( "It doesn't work for me. I gotta have more cowbell!")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
It's remarkable how the Court becomes strict constructionist *only* when it screws the Jews.

26 posted on 06/08/2015 10:07:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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To: ThomasMore
If this has to do with passports then this administration has NO right wtf so ever to deny Israelis passports

This case has zero to do with denying passports to anyone, much less to Israelis. The issue is what language to put on passports of U.S. citizens who were born in Israel to American parents.

It sometimes helps to read the article before commenting. :-)

27 posted on 06/08/2015 10:37:08 AM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

For the SCOTUS ping list.


28 posted on 06/08/2015 10:37:38 AM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: SunkenCiv
???

Didn't all three Jewish members of the U.S. Supreme Court side with the Bush and Obama administrations on this one?

29 posted on 06/08/2015 10:41:22 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ( "It doesn't work for me. I gotta have more cowbell!")
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To: Yaelle
This seems bad, but I admit to not understanding the true issue here.

In 1947, the U.N. voted to take British-ruled Palestine and divide it into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The U.N. resolution said that the City of Jerusalem would not be part of either state, but would be internationally-administered. That never happened, but every U.S. President, from Truman to today, has refused to recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel, because U.S. foreign policy has been to officially recognize that U.N. resolution. That's why the U.S. Embassy to Israel is in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.

When American citizens living in Israel have a child, that child is a U.S. citizen and is entitled to a U.S. passport. U.S. policy is to list "Israel" as the place of birth on the child's passport, unless the child was born in Jerusalem, in which case the passport lists the place of birth as "Jerusalem."

During the Bush Administration, Congress passed a law requiring that U.S. passports issued to U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem list the place of birth as "Israel" if the parents so requested. The Bush Administration, and later the Obama Administration, refused to comply.

Today's SCOTUS decision upholds the Bush-Obama refusal, on the ground that the Constitution gives only the President, and not the Congress, the power to recognize foreign governments, and this power includes the power to decide what boundaries of foreign governments the U.S. will recognize.

30 posted on 06/08/2015 10:48:17 AM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Alberta's Child

Are there no Jews who oppose the existence of Israel (while doing what most BDSers do, and pretend it’s about a few policies)?


31 posted on 06/08/2015 10:54:50 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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To: Alberta's Child

I do understand that. It still bugs me.


32 posted on 06/08/2015 11:00:37 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

Probably the correct decision. If Congress want's to act as several Justices have noted in the past, they need to use the powers they have, particularly the power of the purse. As they did in the Embassy Act. Without a waiver. Beyond that this is an issue for the President to decide. If he thinks none of Jerusalem is part of Israel, so be it. If Obama and the State Dept think the entirety of Jerusalem is up for negotiation they are out of touch. Since Israel's borders are treaty lines, consistency would require that Israel not be mentioned on any birth certificates or passports, and that we have no Embassy in Israel until there are internationally recognized borders.

33 posted on 06/08/2015 11:13:13 AM PDT by SJackson (an emotional nation, not a rational nation. You work from your gut and not your mind, BHO on Israel)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

I believe they have to wait until the surgery is complete. For Caitlyn I believe she can get a special two year passport pending surgery. Presenting an interesting issue if the female is subject to search in another country and found to have male plumbing.


34 posted on 06/08/2015 11:16:45 AM PDT by SJackson (an emotional nation, not a rational nation. You work from your gut and not your mind, BHO on Israel)
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To: rickyrikardo

Guantanamo is part of Cuba, just as the Canal Zone was always part of Panama.


35 posted on 06/08/2015 11:17:24 AM PDT by SJackson (an emotional nation, not a rational nation. You work from your gut and not your mind, BHO on Israel)
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To: SJackson

Well there you go. Someone born in Jerusalem, Israel can’t have their passport say so because the deniers won’t allow it. But someone with male DNA can mutilate his genitals and be allowed to say he is a woman on his passport.

Crazy crazy world.


36 posted on 06/08/2015 11:20:55 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: rickyrikardo

totally ridiculous again


37 posted on 06/08/2015 11:21:22 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: rickyrikardo

and what else might Jerusalem be? It is 100% inside the borders of Israel.


38 posted on 06/08/2015 11:23:12 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL
I suppose State would tell you Israel has no recognized borders, only a near 7 decades long cease fire line. So Jerusalem can't be inside Israel's borders, in fact without borders Israel may not exist at all.

Israel annexed Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The status quo is 5 to 7 decades old. Israel should simply declare it's borders, as it did with annexations. Friends will recognize them. Clearly Obama doesn't. GWB is a much bigger disappointment as he campaigned on moving the Embassy to Jerusalem, he lied about that, and signed the passport legislation. Either President could solve the passport problem by simply directing State, so the decision belongs to them. Besides, it's not like Israel's enemies recognize Tel Aviv as legitimate anyway.

39 posted on 06/08/2015 12:07:16 PM PDT by SJackson (an emotional nation, not a rational nation. You work from your gut and not your mind, BHO on Israel)
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To: SJackson

bump


40 posted on 06/08/2015 12:18:47 PM PDT by GeronL
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