🔗 Share this article The nation's highest court agrees to consider lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship. The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders. On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were initiated. The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will overturn the provision altogether. Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which involve foreign-born parents and their young children. The Legal Foundation For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has established the rule that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces. "Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The contested presidential order sought to refuse 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 among about a minority of states – largely in the North and South America – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a longstanding constitutional right: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders. On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were initiated. The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will overturn the provision altogether. Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which involve foreign-born parents and their young children. The Legal Foundation For over a century and a half, the Constitutional amendment has established the rule that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces. "Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The contested presidential order sought to refuse 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 among about a minority of states – largely in the North and South America – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.