The nation's highest court will hear legal challenge questioning birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has decided to review a pivotal case that challenges a historic principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was halted by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will nullify the provision completely.
Next, the court will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which include parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the rule that anyone born in the country is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel 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 contested executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States belongs to a group of about 30 countries – largely in the Americas – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born in their territory.
