The nation's highest court will review legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has decided to review a pivotal case that puts to the test a longstanding principle: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.
On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the action was halted by federal courts after lawsuits were initiated.
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights altogether.
Next, the judges will set a time to hear oral arguments between the government and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their young children.
The Legal Foundation
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the rule that anyone born in the nation is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to 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 presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is among about 30 countries – mostly in the Americas – that provide automatic citizenship to any person born on their soil.
