US Supreme Court agrees to review case disputing citizenship by birth.
The top court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a historic guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for those born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the move was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will either support citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn them altogether.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which include immigrant parents and their infants.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the 14th 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 personnel of invading forces.
"Every individual 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 deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is among about three dozen nations – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to all those born in their territory.
