The nation's highest court agrees to review legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.
The top court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that challenges a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the move was halted by federal courts after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end the provision altogether.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear the case between the administration and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
The 14th Amendment
For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the rule that all individuals born in the United States is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to diplomats and members of foreign military forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – mostly in the North and South America – that grant instant citizenship to any person born on their soil.
