US Supreme Court agrees to consider case questioning birthright citizenship.
The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that challenges a century-old guarantee: birthright citizenship for people born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this January, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the move was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end the provision entirely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear the case between the government and the suing parties, which involve parents who are immigrants and their infants.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the rule that anyone born in the United States is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members of invading forces.
"Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is among about a minority of states – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to all those born within their borders.
