Zivotofsky v. Kerry
| Zivotofsky v. Kerry | |
|---|---|
| Argued November 3, 2014 Decided June 8, 2015 | |
| Full case name | Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, By His Parents and Guardians, Ari Z. and Naomi Siegman Zivotofsky, Petitioner v. John Kerry, Secretary of State |
| Docket no. | 13-628 |
| Citations | 576 U.S. 1 (more) 135 S. Ct. 2076; 192 L. Ed. 2d 83 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | See Zivotofsky v. Clinton for details. |
| Holding | |
| The President has the exclusive power to grant formal recognition to a foreign sovereign and its territorial boundaries. Because the power to recognize foreign states resides in the President alone, § 214(d) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act infringes on the Executive’s decision to withhold recognition with respect to Jerusalem. D.C. Circuit affirmed. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan |
| Concurrence | Breyer |
| Concur/dissent | Thomas |
| Dissent | Roberts, joined by Alito |
| Dissent | Scalia, joined by Roberts, Alito |
Zivotofsky v. Kerry, 576 U.S. 1 (2015), is a United States Supreme Court decision that held that the president, as head of the executive branch, has exclusive power to recognize formally a foreign sovereign and its territorial boundaries; as such, Congress may not require the State Department to indicate in passports that Jerusalem is part of Israel.
The ruling left it unclear whether it also holds for de facto, as opposed to de jure, recognition. The ruling also left it unclear "whether the president’s exclusive recognition power also controls the legal consequences that commonly flow from recognition, such as access to U.S. courts, application of the act of state doctrine, sovereign immunity, and the control of foreign state-owned assets".