The nation's highest court has decided to review legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.
The top court has decided to review a pivotal case that challenges a historic guarantee: birthright citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the action was halted by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will end the provision completely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which involve foreign-born parents and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has established the doctrine that all individuals born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.
"Every individual 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 offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to all those born in their territory.
