US Supreme Court has decided to review lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has decided to review a landmark case that questions a century-old guarantee: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to terminate the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either support citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will nullify them completely.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the federal government and plaintiffs, which include foreign-born parents and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has established the doctrine that anyone born in the nation is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military forces.

"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 deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.