The nation's highest court agrees to consider legal challenge questioning birthright citizenship.
The top court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a century-old guarantee: birthright citizenship for people born within US borders.
On day one in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the action was halted by the judiciary after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn them entirely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which include immigrant parents and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the principle that anyone born in the nation is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and members 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 disputed presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that grant instant citizenship to all those born on their soil.
