The nation's highest court will review legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that questions a longstanding guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for those born in the United States.

On day one in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the move was halted by the judiciary after legal challenges were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the children of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights altogether.

Next, the court will calendar a session to hear the case between the administration and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the nation is a American citizen, with certain exclusions 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 challenged directive sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the North and South America – that award immediate citizenship to any person born in their territory.