America's top judicial body agrees to review lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.
The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that questions a century-old guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for people born on American soil.
On his first day in office this January, the administration signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were initiated.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn those rights completely.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has established the principle that all individuals 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 refuse citizenship to the children 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 a minority of states – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to any person born within their borders.
