The nation's highest court will review lawsuit questioning citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has decided to review a pivotal case that puts to the test a historic principle: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.
On his first day in office this January, the President issued an executive order aiming to terminate this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's final decision will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights completely.
Next, the judges will set a time to hear the case between the federal government and the suing parties, which include immigrant parents and their young children.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the 14th Amendment has established the principle that every person born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of occupying armies.
"Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is among about a minority of states – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.
