The nation's highest court has decided to consider lawsuit challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The top court has will hear a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for those born within US borders.
On day one in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after lawsuits were initiated.
The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will overturn them completely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the government and claimants, which include immigrant parents and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the rule that every person born in the United States is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to diplomats and members of occupying armies.
"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 withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the North and South America – that provide automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.
