US Supreme Court will consider lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.
The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that challenges a historic guarantee: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On day one in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to terminate the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will end them entirely.
Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which involve immigrant parents and their infants.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has established the rule that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel 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 executive order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States is one of about a minority of states – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.
