America's top judicial body will hear lawsuit disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that questions a historic principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the move was halted by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights altogether.
Next, the court will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the administration and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their young children.
The 14th Amendment
For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that every person born in the nation is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and members of occupying armies.
"Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested directive sought to deny 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 – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to all those born in their territory.
