US Supreme Court agrees to hear case challenging birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that questions a century-old principle: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.

On his first day in office this January, the President issued an executive order aiming to halt the policy, but the order was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will either support citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end them altogether.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear oral arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which include foreign-born parents and their young children.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the rule that every person born in the nation is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The contested directive sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.