America's top judicial body has decided to consider case challenging birthright citizenship.
The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a landmark case that questions a historic principle: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.
On day one in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was halted by the judiciary after constitutional questions were filed.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will either support citizenship rights for the children of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights completely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear the case between the administration and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the principle that all individuals born in the nation is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to diplomats 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 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 belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant instant citizenship to any person born on their soil.
