US Supreme Court will hear legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.
The US Supreme Court has will hear a significant case that questions a historic constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born within US borders.
On the inaugural day in office this January, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by federal courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.
The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will nullify them entirely.
Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their young children.
A Constitutional Cornerstone
For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth 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 members of foreign military forces.
"Every individual 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 whether in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.
The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that award immediate citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
