US Supreme Court will review legal challenge challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to terminate this practice, but the order was struck down by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will either uphold citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn those rights completely.

Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which involve parents who are immigrants and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that all individuals 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 executive order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – primarily in the North and South America – that award instant citizenship to anyone born on their soil.