US Supreme Court will review legal challenge challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that puts to the test a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to terminate this practice, but the move was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will nullify them entirely.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the federal government and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the country is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"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 withhold citizenship to the offspring 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 30 countries – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.