The nation's highest court has decided to review lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.
The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for those born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to end the policy, but the move was halted by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights completely.
Next, the court will schedule a date to hear arguments between the federal government and claimants, which include parents who are immigrants and their young children.
The 14th Amendment
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the nation is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel 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 disputed executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the Americas – that award instant citizenship to all those born within their borders.
