The nation's highest court will consider lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a significant case that puts to the test a century-old principle: birthright citizenship for those born on American soil.
On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the action was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end the provision altogether.
Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the federal government and claimants, which comprise foreign-born parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the rule that every person born in the United States is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel 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 contested executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.
