US Supreme Court agrees to review legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The top court has decided to review a pivotal case that questions a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to terminate this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will overturn them entirely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which comprise foreign-born parents and their infants.
The 14th Amendment
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has established the doctrine that anyone born in the nation is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces.
"Every individual 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 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 three dozen nations – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award instant citizenship to all those born in their territory.
