America's top judicial body agrees to review legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a pivotal case that challenges a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born on American soil.
On day one in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the action was subsequently blocked by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will end them completely.
Next, the court will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the rule that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and members of invading forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is among about three dozen nations – largely in the North and South America – that grant immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.
