US Supreme Court will hear case questioning citizenship by birth.

The top court has will hear a pivotal case that questions a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born on American soil.

On his first day in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the action was subsequently blocked by lower courts after constitutional questions were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will end them entirely.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear the case between the administration and plaintiffs, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that every person born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats 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 directive sought to refuse citizenship to the children 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 three dozen nations – primarily in the North and South America – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.