America's top judicial body will consider legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a significant case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end the policy, but the action was subsequently blocked by federal courts after lawsuits were filed.
The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify those rights entirely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the principle that every person 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 disputed directive 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 temporary visas.
The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
