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

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that questions a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born within US borders.

On his first day in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the move was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were initiated.

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end them completely.

Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the federal government and plaintiffs, which include foreign-born parents and their young children.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the country is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of foreign military forces.

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

The contested directive sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about 30 countries – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant instant citizenship to any person born within their borders.