The nation's highest court agrees to hear legal challenge disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The top court has agreed to take on a significant case that puts to the test a century-old principle: guaranteed citizenship for people born in the United States.

On his first day in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the order was struck down by lower courts after lawsuits were filed.

The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will overturn those rights completely.

Next, the court will calendar a session to hear the case between the administration and the suing parties, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their young children.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For over a century and a half, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of foreign military forces.

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

The contested directive sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.