Israel Matzav

US Supreme Court to vote 5-4 against Jerusalem?

He's grown up a bit since you last saw him, but the kid on the left is Menachem Zivotofsky, the plaintiff in Zivotofsky v. Kerry (formerly known as Zivotofsky v. Clinton, Zivotofsky v. Rice and probably one or two more I'm forgetting), and he was in court in Washington on Monday to hear his lawyers argue to put "Jerusalem, Israel" on his passport as his birthplace. Four of my eight children (including one Menachem's age) are similarly situated, although two of them were born before the law on which Menachem relies was enacted.

My bet is that, unfortunately, it's going to go 5-4 against us, with the Obama appointees carrying the day.

Liberal members of the court seemed to agree with the Obama administration — and President George W. Bush before him — that the 2002 passport law embraces the interpretation that Jerusalem belongs to Israel and therefore should be seen as an unconstitutional intrusion on the executive branch’s role in setting the nation’s foreign policy.

Conservatives seemed to endorse the view that Congress was simply enabling “self-identification” of those born to Americans in the city, and that it does not affect the recognition issue.

It appeared that the outcome would be determined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. He looked for a compromise — some version of a passport disclaimer by the president — but also indicated that he believes the court must yield to the executive branch in matters of foreign affairs.

Unless Kennedy changes his mind, I think we will lose this one. 

Labels: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, US Supreme Court

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:13 PM