The nation's highest court agrees to hear legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt the policy, but the order was struck down by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on temporary visas, or it will end them altogether.

Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which involve immigrant parents and their newborns.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of foreign military forces.

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

The disputed directive sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – largely in the North and South America – that provide instant citizenship to any person born within their borders.