America's top judicial body agrees to hear case challenging birthright citizenship.
The top court has decided to review a pivotal case that questions a historic principle: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this January, the President issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after lawsuits were filed.
The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately affirm 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 justices will set a time to hear arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which involve parents who are immigrants and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the principle that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats 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 challenged executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
