The nation's highest court agrees to consider lawsuit disputing citizenship by birth.
The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that questions a century-old constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born on American soil.
On his first day in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was struck down by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's final decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights altogether.
Next, the judges will set a time to hear the case between the government and the suing parties, which include foreign-born parents and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that all individuals born in the United States is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of occupying armies.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.
