America's top judicial body has decided to consider legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.

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

On his first day in office this January, the administration signed an order aiming to terminate this practice, but the action was halted by the judiciary after legal challenges were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will overturn the provision entirely.

Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their infants.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that all individuals born in the United States is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and members 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 contested directive sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – primarily in the North and South America – that provide automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.