US Supreme Court has decided to consider legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that challenges a historic guarantee: birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.
On the inaugural day in office this January, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was halted by the judiciary after lawsuits were initiated.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision completely.
Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear the case between the government and claimants, which include parents who are immigrants and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that all individuals born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members of foreign military forces.
"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is one of about 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that provide immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.
