THE HILL
by Eliana Rudee
October 26, 2014

In October 2002, Menachem Zivotofsky was born in Jerusalem to American parents – a birth that would result in a major U.S. Supreme Court case ruling on the legal separation of powers and the political status of Jerusalem. His birth certificate read simply: “Jerusalem.” Yet on September 30, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, stating (section 214d) that for anyone born in Jerusalem, the Secretary of State “shall, upon the request of the citizen or the citizen’s legal guardian, record the place of birth as Israel.” Accordingly, his parents requested that “Israel” be added to the place of birth on his passport. After all, and according to his lawyer, “That’s been the State Department’s practice. The general rule for American citizens born abroad is that their passport list only a country of birth. […] So if a citizen is born for instance in Paris, it says France. If they’re born in Tel Aviv or Haifa, it says just Israel. If you’re born in Jerusalem, instead of saying the country, the city is listed — just a city – Jerusalem.”

But much to the Zivotofsky family’s dismay, the State Department rejected their request that had just been permitted by the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. The Zivotofsky family sued then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and the Supreme Court ruled the Foreign Relations Authorization Act unconstitutional, as it infringed on the rights of the executive branch and the president to conduct foreign affairs.

The Supreme Court will return to this case on Monday, November 3, 2014 with the new title  “Zivotofsky v. [John] Kerry.” While the ruling is being discussed in the Supreme Court as a separation of powers issue, the case has clear political ramifications for the status of Jerusalem……

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