He is a 9-year-old boy without a country. Menachem Zivotofsky is a U.S. citizen, born in Jerusalem. There lies his dilemma. The State Department, in an unusual exception, will not allow his family to list "Israel" as the nation of birth on his U.S. passport. The Supreme Court will decide whether granting this "small" gesture on behalf of a child half a world away -- and others like him -- would disrupt the Obama administration's ongoing efforts to secure a binding, lasting peace settlement for the troubled region. Oral arguments in the case are set for Monday. At issue are two questions, one narrow, one broad: May courts intervene to enforce a federal law explicitly directing the State Department how to record the birthplace of an American citizen on a passport? And does the law impermissibly infringe on the president's power to recognize a foreign sovereign?
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The case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court next week
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People born in Jerusalem can't list Israel as their place of birth
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The city is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians
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