The nation's highest court will consider lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.
The top court has agreed to take on a significant case that puts to the test a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for those born within US borders.
On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the action was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision altogether.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear the case between the administration and claimants, which involve foreign-born parents and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that every person born in the nation is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of invading forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The challenged directive sought to refuse 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 three dozen nations – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to all those born within their borders.
