America's top judicial body agrees to consider legal challenge challenging citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that challenges a historic principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On his first day in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to terminate this practice, but the order was halted by the judiciary after lawsuits were filed.
The Supreme Court's eventual decision will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals 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 arguments between the federal government and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their young children.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the principle that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces.
"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The challenged 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 one of about 30 countries – largely in the Americas – that grant instant citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
