US Supreme Court to review Jerusalem birthplace law

 

Washington: The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to weigh the constitutionality of a US law that was designed to allow American citizens born in Jerusalem — the historic holy city claimed by Israelis and Palestinians — to have Israel listed as their birthplace on passports. 

 

The case concerns a long-standing US foreign policy that the president — and not lawmakers — has sole authority to state who controls Jerusalem. 

 

Seeking to remain neutral on the hotly contested issue, the US state department allows passports to name Jerusalem as a place of birth, but no country name is included.