America's top judicial body will review legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.
The top court has agreed to take on a significant case that challenges a longstanding principle: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to halt the policy, but the order was struck down by the judiciary after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's final decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights entirely.
Next, the judges will set a time to hear the case between the government and the suing parties, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the rule that every person born in the United States is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of occupying armies.
"Every individual 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 in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about 30 countries – largely in the Americas – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
