The nation's highest court has decided to hear case questioning citizenship by birth.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for people born within US borders.
On day one in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was struck down by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either support citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will end those rights altogether.
Next, the judges will set a time to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military 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 deny citizenship to the offspring 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 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that provide instant citizenship to any person born within their borders.
