America's top judicial body agrees to hear case disputing birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has will hear a pivotal case that questions a longstanding principle: birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.

On his first day in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the order was struck down by the judiciary after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will end the provision entirely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has established the doctrine that every person born in the country is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members 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 disputed executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.