The nation's highest court has decided to consider lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.
The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On the inaugural day in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the action was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's final judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision completely.
Next, the court will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the government and the suing parties, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has codified the principle that all individuals born in the nation is a 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 contested executive order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to anyone born in their territory.
