US Supreme Court will hear case questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The nation's highest court has will hear a landmark case that challenges a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born in the United States.
On his first day in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights completely.
Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which include parents who are immigrants and their infants.
The 14th Amendment
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the nation is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel 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 executive order sought to deny 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 30 countries – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that grant immediate citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
