America's top judicial body agrees to review legal challenge disputing citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a historic guarantee: birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.
On his first day in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after lawsuits were filed.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify them completely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that all individuals born in the United States is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces.
"Anyone 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 whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about 30 countries – mostly in the North and South America – that grant instant citizenship to all those born within their borders.
