The nation's highest court agrees to hear case disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a landmark case that challenges a historic guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for those born in the United States.

On his first day in office this winter, the President issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the move was subsequently blocked by federal courts after constitutional questions were filed.

The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will overturn those rights altogether.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their newborns.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to 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 refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is one of about three dozen nations – largely in the Americas – that grant immediate citizenship to all those born in their territory.