America's top judicial body has decided to review lawsuit questioning citizenship by birth.
The nation's highest court has will hear a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born on American soil.
On his first day in office this January, the President issued an executive order aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights entirely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which include parents who are immigrants and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the United States is a American citizen, with specific conditions 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 challenged executive 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 a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to any person born on their soil.
