US Supreme Court will consider case disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born on American soil.
On the inaugural day in office this January, the administration signed an order aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the order was halted by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.
The Supreme Court's final ruling will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify them altogether.
Next, the justices will set a time to hear the case between the federal government and plaintiffs, which involve immigrant parents and their infants.
The Legal Foundation
For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the rule that all individuals born in the United States is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and members 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 challenged presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.
The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
