The nation's highest court agrees to hear case disputing citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that challenges a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for people born within US borders.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to end the policy, but the move was halted by lower courts after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision completely.

Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear the case between the federal government and plaintiffs, which comprise foreign-born parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the principle that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel 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 challenged presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about 30 countries – primarily in the North and South America – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.