U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review In Dispute Over Passport Listing of Jerusalem As Place of Birth

The U.S. Supreme Court today granted certiorari in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, (Docket No. 13-628, cert. granted 4/22/2014). (Order List.) This is the second time the case will have been heard by the Supreme Court. In 2012 it ruled that the political question doctrine does not prevent federal courts from ruling in a dispute between Congress and the State Department over whether Americans born in Jerusalem are to have "Jerusalem", not "Israel", listed as their place of birth. (See prior posting.) A congressional statute calls for the State Department to change its policy and list "Israel", but the Executive Branch claims that this statute unconstitutionally interferes with the President's constitutional authority to conduct the country's foreign affairs. In a 2013 decision-- the case which the Supreme Court today agreed to review-- the D.C. Circuit agreed with the Executive Branch that the statute impermissibly intrudes on the President’s exclusive power to decide whether and on what terms to recognize foreign nations. (Zivotofsky v. Secretary of State, (DC Cir., July 232, 2013).