US Supreme Court will hear case challenging citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that puts to the test a longstanding guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will overturn them altogether.

Next, the court will set a time to hear oral arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which comprise immigrant parents and their newborns.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the rule that anyone born in the nation is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel 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 presidential order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is among about three dozen nations – mostly in the North and South America – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.