Jerusalem Embassy Recognition

December 6, 2017

President Trump issued a proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and directing the State Department to begin relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv. Congress had passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995 requiring the move, but every subsequent president had exercised the act's waiver provision, deferring relocation on national security grounds. The recognition was squarely within the President's constitutional authority over foreign affairs recognition, as confirmed by Zivotofsky v. Kerry (2015), which held the President has exclusive power to recognize foreign sovereigns. However, reversing decades of bipartisan diplomatic consensus without Congressional consultation raised questions about the prudential limits of unilateral executive action on sensitive geopolitical matters. The proclamation had a relatively modest constitutional footprint since recognition power is well-established as presidential.