US Supreme Court has decided to consider legal challenge challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a longstanding principle: birthright citizenship for those born in the United States.

On day one in office this January, the President signed an order aiming to terminate this practice, but the move was halted by lower courts after lawsuits were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will nullify the provision entirely.

Next, the court will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which include parents who are immigrants and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that anyone born in the United States is a American citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The disputed executive order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award instant citizenship to anyone born within their borders.