Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today criticized a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia allowing the State Department to continue to refuse American citizens born in Jerusalem from listing “Israel” as their country of birth.

“Today’s decision not only flies in the face of basic geography, but thumbs its nose at the fact that the U.S. Constitution clearly places authority over passports and regulations regarding U.S. citizens born abroad in the hands of Congress,” said Engel.

In 2012, Engel signed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in Zivotofsky v. Clinton arguing for the constitutionality of a 2002 law requiring the Department of State to list “Israel” as the country of birth on U.S. passports for American citizens born in Jerusalem. The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the lower court.

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Related Coverage
Link to Amicus Brief filed in support of plaintiffs in Zivotofsky v. Clinton