The nation's highest court agrees to hear legal challenge challenging citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a significant case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for people born within US borders.

On day one in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt this practice, but the action was struck down by lower courts after constitutional questions were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will overturn the provision completely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which include parents who are immigrants and their infants.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that every person born in the nation is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel 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 contested directive sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is among about 30 countries – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that award instant citizenship to all those born within their borders.