US Supreme Court agrees to review legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has decided to review a pivotal case that questions a century-old guarantee: automatic 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 order was struck down by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights completely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which comprise foreign-born parents and their newborns.
The 14th Amendment
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the rule that anyone born in the nation is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested directive 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 three dozen nations – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.
