TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Mark Sherman
November 4, 2014
US Supreme Court appears split down he middle on whether to accept administration’s position or family’s plea
Middle Eastern politics infused the Supreme Court’s arguments Monday over a disputed law that would allow Americans born in Jerusalem to list their birthplace as Israel on their US passports. The justices appeared divided over whether the law should be struck down as unconstitutional, as the Obama administration wants, or put into effect as a result of a lawsuit filed by the parents of Jerusalem-born Menachem Zivotofsky.
Twelve-year-old Menachem, a baby when the case began in 2003, and his parents sat through the hour-long argument that saw justices wrestle with questions of the president’s primacy in matters of foreign affairs and the effect the court’s eventual decision could have on simmering tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
Justice Elena Kagan called Jerusalem a “tinderbox” at the moment and said the outcome of the case would be watched closely. “History suggests that everything is a big deal with respect to the status of Jerusalem,” Kagan said. On the other side, Justice Antonin Scalia said of the law, “If it is within Congress’s power, what difference does it make whether it antagonizes foreign countries?”…..
ArchitectGuy on Israel 