The nation's highest court agrees to review case questioning citizenship by birth.
The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a century-old constitutional right: birthright citizenship for people born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt the policy, but the move was halted by lower courts after constitutional questions were filed.
The Supreme Court's final decision will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will nullify those rights completely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear arguments between the federal government and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that all individuals born in the country is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of invading forces.
"All persons 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 refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is among about a minority of states β primarily in the Western Hemisphere β that grant instant citizenship to any person born in their territory.
