America's top judicial body has decided to review legal challenge questioning birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that challenges a historic guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for those born on American soil.
On day one in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the move was halted by lower courts after lawsuits were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will end them altogether.
Next, the judges will set a time to hear the case between the administration and plaintiffs, which involve immigrant parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the principle that every person born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of invading forces.
"Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide instant citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
