On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional legislation that said Americans born in Jerusalem could list Israel as their place of birth.

The six-to-three ruling by the country's highest court ends a legal battle whose outcome could have thrust American diplomacy into the charged debate over Jerusalem's status.

While Israel claims the disputed city as its capital, the US has, as a matter of foreign policy, never acknowledged that any country has sovereignty over it.

The 2002 law struck down by the court was opposed by both George W Bush and Barack Obama.

In making his decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy said: "The power to recognise or decline to recognise a foreign state and its territorial bounds resides with the president alone."

The court was ruling over a case brought by Jewish parents seeking a passport alteration for their child, Menachem B Zivotofsky.