US Supreme Court agrees to consider case challenging citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a landmark case that puts to the test a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On his first day in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to halt the policy, but the action was halted by federal courts after constitutional questions were initiated.

The Supreme Court's final decision will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights entirely.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their young children.

The 14th Amendment

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that all individuals born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and members 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 disputed executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about three dozen nations – largely in the North and South America – that provide automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.