The nation's highest court agrees to hear lawsuit questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The US Supreme Court has decided to review a significant case that challenges a historic principle: birthright citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On day one in office this January, the administration signed an order aiming to end the policy, but the move was subsequently blocked by lower courts after lawsuits were initiated.

The Supreme Court's final decision will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end those rights entirely.

Next, the court will set a time to hear oral arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which involve immigrant parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the rule that anyone born in the nation is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The contested directive sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – mostly in the Americas – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.