The nation's highest court agrees to review case disputing birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that challenges a historic principle: automatic citizenship for people born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end the policy, but the action was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were initiated.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn those rights entirely.

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

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and members 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 disputed directive sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is among about three dozen nations – mostly in the Americas – that grant immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.