The nation's highest court agrees to hear case challenging citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a pivotal case that challenges a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for those born within US borders.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the action was subsequently blocked by federal courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights completely.
Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the government and the suing parties, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the United States is a American 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 contested directive sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is among about 30 countries – mostly in the Americas – that award immediate citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
