US Supreme Court agrees to review legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a century-old principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born on American soil.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the order was halted by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.

The Supreme Court's final decision will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end them altogether.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which include parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the United States is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to 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 challenged executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to any person born on their soil.