mr. verilli: mr. chief justice and may it please the court, let me get to the heart of the problem with section 214(d). even if section 214(d) does not officially change or formally change the recognition position of the united states, it tries to deny the president the power to give effect to our official recognition position by forcing executive branch officials to issue official diplomatic communications that contradict that position. justice roberts: if there were a law that said precisely pretty much what you just said? the law says, ok, mr. president, you can recognize whoever you want, but if you recognize this country, this government, we're going to treat it as if you hadn't recognized this government. for all purposes of domestic law, we're going to pretend we're going to operate on the assumption that you have recognized this country. mr. verilli: i think there would be limits to congress's ability to do that. we think that the recognition power that the president possesses necessarily incl