The nation's highest court will review legal challenge challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The nation's highest court has will hear a pivotal case that puts to the test a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the order was struck down by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will nullify those rights altogether.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which include foreign-born parents and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of foreign military forces.
"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to any person born in their territory.
