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February 21, 2006
Orthodox
Union Welcomes Federal Appeals Court Ruling Allowing “Jerusalem
Passport Litigation” to Continue; Urges Administration to
Resolve Issue Sooner
Today, the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America welcomed a ruling
issued Friday, February 17, 2006 by the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit allowing a lawsuit against the U.S. State
Department over its policy with regard to passports issued in
Jerusalem to U.S. citizens to continue in the federal district
court.
The ruling is in the case of Zivotofsky v. Secretary of State in
which the parents of a U.S. citizen born in Jerusalem are suing
to have his place of birth listed in his U.S. passport as
“Israel” consistent with legislation enacted by Congress. To
date, the State Department has insisted upon listing the
birthplace of citizens born in Jerusalem as just that, with no
reference to the country of birth.
While citing longstanding precedent that the conduct of foreign
policy, and “political recognition” of a nation’s sovereignty
over particular territory is “exclusively a function of the
Executive,” the appellate court did not rule in favor of the
State Department and find this case to raise an insoluable
“political question,” rather, the court remanded the case to the
district court for further hearings and evidence. Questions to
be explored include whether listing Israel in such passports
would have a significant impact upon American foreign policy and
the inconsistency between the passport policy and the issuance
of death certificate’s by the American embassy in Tel Aviv which
lists “Jerusalem, Israel” when appropriate.
In reaction to Friday’s ruling, Nathan Diament, director of
public policy for the Union stated:
The Orthodox Union
welcomes the ruling by the appeals court which will allow this
litigation to continue. We do believe that the best course of
action for all concerned would be for the U.S. Administration to
withdraw from further litigation and to implement the sensible
policy urged upon it by Congress on multiple occasions and
simply have passports for U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem state
their birth country as Israel.
The plaintiffs in the case are represented by noted Washington
attorneys Nat Lewin and Alyza Lewin. The Orthodox Union joined
with other organizations in supporting their effort through the
filing of a “friend of the court” brief.
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