The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a century-old constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for those born within US borders.
On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was halted by lower courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end the provision completely.
Next, the court will set a time to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which include immigrant parents and their infants.
For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the nation is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign 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 challenged presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that grant immediate citizenship to all those born on their soil.
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