America's top judicial body will review legal challenge challenging citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a significant case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people 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 struck down by lower courts after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will overturn them completely.

Next, the court will set a time to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment has established the rule that every person born in the nation is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats 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 contested presidential order sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is one of about a minority of states – mostly in the Americas – that award immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.