America's top judicial body agrees to consider legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On day one in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the action was halted by federal courts after lawsuits were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will end the provision entirely.

Next, the court will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the United States is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of occupying armies.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The disputed executive order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – largely in the Americas – that provide instant citizenship to any person born within their borders.