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

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that questions a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On his first day in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the order was struck down by lower courts after lawsuits were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will end the provision altogether.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their infants.

The 14th Amendment

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the principle that every person born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and members of invading forces.

"Anyone 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 deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Americas – that grant instant citizenship to anyone born in their territory.