The nation's highest court will review lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a significant case that puts to the test a longstanding guarantee: birthright citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On day one in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the move was halted by the judiciary after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will overturn the provision entirely.

Next, the judges will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the administration and the suing parties, which include immigrant parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the 14th Amendment has established the doctrine that every person born in the nation is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to 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 contested presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to any person born within their borders.