US Supreme Court agrees to consider lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.
The nation's highest court has will hear a significant case that puts to the test a longstanding principle: birthright citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the order was struck down by lower courts after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's eventual decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights completely.
Next, the court will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their infants.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that all individuals born in the United States is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of invading forces.
"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested directive sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
