America's top judicial body agrees to consider case questioning citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that puts to the test a century-old principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On day one in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was struck down by lower courts after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights altogether.

Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the Constitutional amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and members of occupying armies.

"Anyone 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 refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – largely in the Americas – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.