America's top judicial body agrees to consider legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.

The top court has decided to review a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding principle: automatic citizenship for those born within US borders.

On day one in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to end the policy, but the action was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.

The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will overturn them entirely.

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

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that all individuals born in the nation is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel 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 disputed presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status.

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