America's top judicial body has decided to hear case disputing citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has will hear a significant case that challenges a century-old principle: automatic citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt this practice, but the action was struck down by the judiciary after lawsuits were filed.

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

Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear the case between the government and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that every person born in the United States is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"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 deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about three dozen nations – primarily in the Americas – that award immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.