US Supreme Court will review case questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a century-old constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born within US borders.

On his first day in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the move was halted by federal courts after constitutional questions were filed.

The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will end them completely.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which comprise foreign-born parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the nation is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members of invading forces.

"Every individual 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 without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is among about a minority of states – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born on their soil.