America's top judicial body agrees to consider lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has decided to review a significant case that challenges a century-old constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born in the United States.
On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to halt this practice, but the order was halted by federal courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the children of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will nullify them entirely.
Next, the court will set a time to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
The 14th Amendment
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that all individuals born in the country is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel 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 presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about three dozen nations – mostly in the North and South America – that grant instant citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
