US Supreme Court will hear legal challenge disputing citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: birthright 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 this practice, but the order was halted by lower courts after lawsuits were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will overturn the provision entirely.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which include parents who are immigrants and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that every person born in the nation is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military forces.

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

The contested directive sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the Americas – that provide instant citizenship to anyone born on their soil.