America's top judicial body has decided to consider lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that puts to the test a century-old constitutional right: birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.
On his first day in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt this practice, but the move was subsequently blocked by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either uphold citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will overturn the provision entirely.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear the case between the government and the suing parties, which involve immigrant parents and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the rule that anyone born in the nation 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 contested executive order sought to deny 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 belongs to a group of about 30 countries – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
