US Supreme Court agrees to consider legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a landmark case that challenges a century-old guarantee: automatic citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the action was halted by federal courts after lawsuits were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn them completely.

Next, the court will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which comprise foreign-born parents and their infants.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the principle that all individuals born in the United States is a American citizen, with exceptions for children born to embassy personnel and members of occupying armies.

"Anyone 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 children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about three dozen nations – mostly in the Americas – that provide instant citizenship to anyone born within their borders.