America's top judicial body agrees to consider legal challenge challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The nation's highest court has decided to review a significant case that questions a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.
On his first day in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt the policy, but the action was struck down by lower courts after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will overturn the provision entirely.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their infants.
The 14th Amendment
For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the United States is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed directive sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – mostly in the Americas – that award instant citizenship to any person born within their borders.
