US Supreme Court will review case questioning citizenship by birth.

The top court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding guarantee: birthright citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the administration issued an executive order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after legal challenges were initiated.

The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will end them altogether.

Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which include parents who are immigrants and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, with exceptions 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 refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is one of about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award instant citizenship to anyone born in their territory.