The nation's highest court agrees to hear case challenging citizenship by birth.
The nation's highest court has will hear a significant case that puts to the test a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On day one in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end the policy, but the order was struck down by the judiciary after constitutional questions were filed.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will ultimately support citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify them entirely.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which involve parents who are immigrants and their infants.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the doctrine that all individuals born in the country is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces.
"Every individual 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 offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that provide instant citizenship to any person born in their territory.
