America's top judicial body agrees to review case challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a historic guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On day one in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were filed.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end them entirely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members of occupying armies.

"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The disputed executive order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is one of about three dozen nations – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to all those born in their territory.