America's top judicial body will review legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.
The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born within US borders.
On his first day in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the action was halted by lower courts after legal challenges were initiated.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights completely.
Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which comprise foreign-born parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the doctrine that all individuals born in the nation is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and members of invading forces.
"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested presidential order sought to refuse 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 – largely in the Americas – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.
