The nation's highest court has decided to hear lawsuit questioning citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that questions a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the administration issued an executive order aiming to halt this practice, but the move was subsequently blocked by federal courts after lawsuits were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end those rights altogether.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear the case between the federal government and the suing parties, which involve foreign-born parents and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the United States is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of invading forces.

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

The disputed executive order sought to withhold 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 is among about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.