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A Washington court has dealt a blow to Jews, who were born in Jerusalem and wanted to list Israel as their birthplace on U.S. Passports, according to court proceedings.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional a law giving thousands of U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem, the choice to list Israel as their place of birth on U.S. Passports.
In a separation of powers conflict focused on Middle East policy, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that the law passed by Congress in 2002 intrudes on the president's powers.
"While the powers of the president are not precisely defined, courts have long recognized alleged dominant position of the president in foreign affairs," Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote in a decision.
A law in 2002 allowed U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to request official documents that list their birthplace as Israel.
The State Department under Republican and Democratic administrations, has refused to follow the order of Congress.
"Congress clearly intended to force the State Department to deviate from its position of neutrality regarding Jerusalem," Henderson wrote. She was joined by Judges Judith W. Rogers and David S. Tatel, who also wrote a concurring opinion.
The case, which reached the Supreme Court in 2011, was presented by Ari and Naomi Zivotofsky, U.S. citizens, whose son Menachem Benjamin was born in Jerusalem in 2002. The couple wanted their child's passport to say he was born in Israel.
