The nation's highest court agrees to consider case challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has will hear a pivotal case that questions a longstanding guarantee: birthright citizenship for those born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the action was halted by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will nullify the provision entirely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and claimants, which include parents who are immigrants and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that all individuals born in the country is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel 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 withhold citizenship to the offspring 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 Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.