America's top judicial body agrees to review legal challenge disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The top court has will hear a significant case that questions a century-old guarantee: birthright citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On day one in office this January, the administration issued an executive order aiming to halt this practice, but the order was struck down by lower courts after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either support citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights completely.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear the case between the government and plaintiffs, which involve immigrant parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the principle that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to diplomats and members of occupying armies.

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

The challenged executive order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – mostly in the Americas – that grant instant citizenship to any person born in their territory.