The nation's highest court has decided to hear legal challenge questioning birthright citizenship.
The top court has will hear a landmark case that puts to the test a century-old constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born within US borders.
On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to terminate this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after legal challenges were initiated.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will end those rights completely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their infants.
The 14th Amendment
For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has enshrined the rule that every person born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of foreign military forces.
"Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The disputed presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either 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 – mostly in the North and South America – that provide immediate citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
