US Supreme Court agrees to hear case challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The top court has decided to review a landmark case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the action was struck down by the judiciary after lawsuits were filed.
The Supreme Court's final decision will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify them completely.
Next, the court will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which comprise foreign-born parents and their newborns.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of occupying armies.
"Anyone 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 children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about a minority of states – mostly in the North and South America – that provide automatic citizenship to any person born on their soil.
