America's top judicial body will consider case challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The top court has decided to review a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: birthright citizenship for those born within US borders.
On his first day in office this winter, the President issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the action was struck down by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn them altogether.
Next, the court will set a time to hear the case between the administration and plaintiffs, which involve immigrant parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the principle that all individuals born in the nation is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and members 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 withhold citizenship to the offspring 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 – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to any person born on their soil.
