US Supreme Court will hear case disputing birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a significant case that challenges a longstanding principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born on American soil.

On the inaugural day in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the move was subsequently blocked by lower courts after lawsuits were initiated.

The Supreme Court's ultimate 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 those rights completely.

Next, the court will set a time to hear the case between the government and the suing parties, which include immigrant parents and their infants.

The 14th Amendment

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the principle that all individuals born in the country is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel 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 deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either 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 Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.