The nation's highest court has decided to consider legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.
The top court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for individuals born in the United States.
On day one in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to halt this practice, but the action was halted by federal courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will ultimately affirm 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 court will set a time to hear the case between the government and the suing parties, which include foreign-born parents and their newborns.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members of occupying armies.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested directive sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is one of about 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that award immediate citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
