The nation's highest court has decided to hear legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that challenges a longstanding principle: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On day one in office this January, the administration issued an executive order aiming to terminate the policy, but the order was struck down by federal courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will nullify those rights altogether.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and plaintiffs, which include immigrant parents and their young children.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For nearly 160 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that all individuals born in the United States is a US citizen, with exceptions for children born to diplomats and members 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 presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about 30 countries – largely in the North and South America – that grant immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.