US Supreme Court has decided to review case disputing birthright citizenship.
The top court has decided to review a significant case that questions a longstanding guarantee: birthright citizenship for people born on American soil.
On his first day in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to terminate this practice, but the action was halted by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will overturn those rights entirely.
Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear the case between the administration and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their newborns.
The 14th Amendment
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members of invading forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
