US Supreme Court agrees to hear lawsuit questioning citizenship by birth.

The top court has will hear a significant case that challenges a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the action was subsequently blocked by federal courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will nullify them completely.

Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which involve foreign-born parents and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that every person born in the nation is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of occupying armies.

"Anyone 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 withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – largely in the Americas – that provide automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.