America's top judicial body will review legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.
The nation's highest court has will hear a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the move was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify them completely.
Next, the court will set a time to hear the case between the government and claimants, which include parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel 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 challenged presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that provide immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.
