The nation's highest court agrees to hear case challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The nation's highest court has will hear a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to terminate the policy, but the move was halted by federal courts after legal challenges were initiated.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will overturn those rights entirely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the principle that every person born in the United States is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel 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 challenged presidential order 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 – primarily in the North and South America – that award instant citizenship to all those born in their territory.
