The nation's highest court has decided to review legal challenge disputing citizenship by birth.
The nation's highest court has will hear a pivotal case that puts to the test a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for people born within US borders.
On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to terminate this practice, but the move was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's final judgment will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end the provision altogether.
Next, the court will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their infants.
The Legal Foundation
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the country is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of invading forces.
"Anyone 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 short-term status.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – mostly in the North and South America – that award immediate citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
