America's top judicial body agrees to review legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.
The top court has will hear a pivotal case that questions a historic guarantee: automatic citizenship for people born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to end the policy, but the order was struck down by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the children of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will nullify those rights entirely.
Next, the court will set a time to hear oral arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which comprise foreign-born parents and their young children.
The Legal Foundation
For nearly 160 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that all individuals born in the United States is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign 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 executive order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
