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U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Jerusalem Passport Law

(CNN) Ariane de Vogue - In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of a federal statute Monday that allowed Americans born in Jerusalem to record in their passport "Israel" as the place of birth. For the last 60 years, U.S. policy has been to recognize no state as having sovereignty over Jerusalem. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the opinion, held that the President has the exclusive power to grant formal recognition to a foreign sovereign. In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said, "The statue at issue does not implicate recognition" but "simply gives an American citizen born in Jerusalem the option to designate his place of birth as Israel for the purposes of passports and other documents." Justice Antonin Scalia, who also dissented, said the law at issue "merely requires the State Department to list a citizen's birthplace as Israel" and does not require the President to make "any other kind of legal commitment."
2015-06-09 00:00:00
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