Advocates of American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel won a victory on Friday in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Three judges who ride the D.C. circuit – David Sentelle, A. Raymond Randolph, and Judith Rogers – overturned a September 2004 decision by District Court Judge Gladys Kessler. Judge Kessler had thrown out of court a case brought by the parents of Menachem Zivotofsky, who wanted the place of birth of their Jerusalem-born child to be listed as “Israel.” Judge Kessler had claimed Menachem and his parents lacked standing to bring the case, a position that the three appeals court judges resoundingly rejected in Friday’s unanimous opinion. Judge Kessler had also claimed that the federal courts lack jurisdiction over what she called “a nonjusticiable political question.” Here the appellate court was less outspoken. It sent the case back to the district court “so that both sides may develop a more complete record.”

President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, and Attorney General Gonzales can cut this legal proceeding short by obeying the law that Mr. Bush signed in 2003 mandating “for purposes of the registration of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport of a United States citizen born in the city of Jerusalem, the Secretary [of state] shall, upon the request of the citizen or the citizen’s legal guardian, record the place of birth as Israel.” We noted at the time of Judge Kessler’s decision that there are plenty of reasons on the merits for the Bush administration to comply with this law. Israel’s prime minister and Parliament have sat in Jerusalem since shortly after the country’s founding. America’s refusal in this instance to recognize the city as Israel’s capital only encourages Israel’s terrorist enemies to think that they will be able to deny the Jewish state its capital. By obeying the law in this case, the president can choose the correct policy on his own rather than being forced to do so by a court in a way that could undermine the powers of the presidency.