US Supreme Court has decided to review legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the action was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify the provision completely.
Next, the court will calendar a session to hear arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their young children.
The 14th Amendment
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the principle that every person born in the nation is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military forces.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The contested presidential order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.
The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.
