From our private database of 33,600+ case briefs...
Zivotofsky v. Clinton
United States Supreme Court
566 U.S. 189 (2012)
Facts
Congress enacted a law allowing Americans born in Jerusalem to list “Israel” as their birthplace on their passports. The policy of the U.S. State Department, under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (defendant), was to remain neutral on the political status of Jerusalem. Thus, the department refused to comply with the statute. The parents of Menachem Zivotofsky (plaintiff), an American who was born in Jerusalem in 2002, brought suit against Clinton in federal court. The district court granted Clinton's motion to dismiss, holding that Zivotofsky's claim presented a nonjusticiable political question. The court of appeals affirmed. The court of appeals also held that the determination of whether the statute was constitutional was a political question. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Roberts, C.J.)
Concurrence (Alito, J.)
Concurrence (Sotomayor, J.)
Dissent (Breyer, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 603,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 33,600 briefs, keyed to 984 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
