Can President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ignore the law entitling Americans to say on their passport that Jerusalem is part of Israel? The Supreme Court will now decide. If a person born in Jerusalem gets an American passport, that passport will list “Jerusalem” as the nation of birth, instead of “Israel” (or Palestine). In 2003, Congress passed a law enabling Americans having a child in Jerusalem to list Israel, implicitly taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian debate. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law.

Menachem Zivotofsky was born in Jerusalem and his parents requested Israel on his passport. The White House and State Department objected, saying this law infringed upon the president’s power to control foreign policy.