The question of how the birth of Menachem Zivotofsky should be registered, which was decided by a federal court in Washington on July 23, was not political. Anyone needing proof of that should only look back to the ruling of the US Supreme Court from March 26 of last year. If the Supreme Court believed that it was a political decision, it would have prevented the federal court from deciding the case. But the Supreme Court decided by an 8-1 majority that the decision was not political, but legal.

It was simply an administrative battle over who wields authority, and in this battle — and this battle alone — the US administration defeated the US Congress. It should also be noted that this was just a temporary victory. The case is headed back to the Supreme Court for further deliberation. In the meanwhile, however, it is clear that in a struggle that began a decade ago, the administration does have the authority to determine that the Zivotofsky child’s place of birth may well have been “Jerusalem,” but it was not necessarily “Israel.”

Here is a summary for anyone unfamiliar with the intricacies of this case. An American child was born in Jerusalem, and his parents asked that his passport read, “Jerusalem, Israel.” The US State Department refused. Its reasoning was that the United States has yet to decide whether to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. As evidence of this, consider the fact that its embassy is located in Tel Aviv. Furthermore, see Menachem Zivotofsky’s passport. His parents went to court, basing their claim on a law that was passed by Congress — a law stating explicitly that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which would obligate the administration to list the boy’s birthplace accordingly. This would have been a potent argument, if Congress had had the authority to pass such a law. But neither former President George W. Bush, nor his successor, President Barack Obama, recognized such congressional authority. Nor did the Supreme Court justices. Last week, the federal court decided that both presidents were right, and that Congress was mistaken. There is no difference whether the issue is about Jerusalem, Israel, Abuja, Nigeria or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — the administration decides what appears in passports.

Obviously, one might wonder why the administration is still so reluctant to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel today. One might even find the answer a tad disappointing. The administration does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because this will cause a commotion and sabotage efforts to get Israel and the Palestinians to talk. In other words, the question that the administration is asking is not “Why not?” but “Why yes?” Since there is no compelling reason to change the policy, it will not be changed, unless the Supreme Court decides that it is Congress that wields that particular authority and not the administration.