The nation's highest court will consider case challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a significant case that puts to the test a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for those born on American soil.

On day one in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to end the policy, but the action was halted by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn those rights entirely.

Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that every person born in the United States is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to diplomats 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 disputed directive sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.