America's top judicial body agrees to hear case disputing citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has will hear a landmark case that questions a longstanding guarantee: birthright citizenship for those born in the United States.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the move was halted by the judiciary after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's final decision will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end them altogether.

Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear the case between the federal government and the suing parties, which comprise immigrant parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the doctrine that all individuals born in the country is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign 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 challenged executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is among about a minority of states – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.