Supreme court to hear US passport case involving Jerusalem
Tue, May 3 5:11 PM
The US Supreme Court recently said that it would hear the appeal of a woman who is upset at the State Department over the listing of her son's birth place on his US passport.
The mother of Menachem Zivotofsky, a boy with US citizenship who was born in Jerusalem, wants her son's US passport to record his place of birth as Jerusalem, Israel, according to Reuters. However, US officials told her that they are only required to list the place of birth as "Jerusalem" as America doesn't recognize any country's sovereignty over the city.
Zivotofsky's parents filed their initial lawsuit in 2003 in federal court, but a judge dismissed it, saying that such a case was beyond the power of the judiciary, according to the news source.
An appeals court agreed with the ruling and now the case goes to the highest court in the land.
President Barack Obama's administration opposes the appeal as it says that the executive branch has sole authority over the US passport issue in the case.
According to the AFP, the US is just one of many countries that have decided not to recognize sovereign claims on Jerusalem.