US Supreme Court will review lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has decided to review a significant case that challenges a longstanding principle: guaranteed citizenship for people born on American soil.

On day one in office this January, the administration signed an order aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was halted by lower courts after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will nullify them altogether.

Next, the court will schedule a date to hear the case between the administration and plaintiffs, which comprise foreign-born parents and their young children.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the rule that every person born in the nation is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading 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 deny citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – primarily in the Americas – that award instant citizenship to anyone born in their territory.