The OU partnered with other leading Jewish organizations in urging the Supreme Court to uphold a federal law requiring the State Department to record the birthplace of American citizens’ children born in Israel’s capital as “Jerusalem, Israel” rather than simply “Jerusalem.” The “friend of the court” brief was spearheaded by the Anti-Defamation League in the case of Menachem Zivotofsky v. Clinton and it contends that Congress has the constitutional authority to enact the law requiring the listing of “Jerusalem, Israel” in such passports.
Nathan Diament, National Director of Public Policy for the OU, issued a statement saying, “The Orthodox Union has long been a leading advocate for the principle that the holy city of Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish People. In this case, this principle is buttressed by the factual reality that Israel has made the modern city of Jerusalem its political capital. This fact has been recognized again and again by the U.S. Congress and duly enacted laws, even as such recognition has been practically unrecognized by the Executive Branch. The practice of the State Department to refuse compliance with the law is wrong and ought to be overturned by the Supreme Court.”