US Supreme Court will consider legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that puts to the test a century-old principle: birthright citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were filed.
The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end the provision entirely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their infants.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the 14th Amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel 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 contested directive sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States is one of about three dozen nations – largely in the North and South America – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
