In 2002, President Bush signed a bill that directed the State Department to “record the place of birth as Israel” in passports of American children born in Jerusalem if their parents ask. This fall the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case which addresses the broad question of whether the president has the power to recognize foreign sovereigns. “The Constitution, by its terms, does not give the president the power to recognize foreign states or governments,” wrote Robert J. Reinstein, a professor at Temple's Beasley School of Law, in an article published in the University of Richmond Law Review.