US Supreme Court will consider legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that puts to the test a century-old constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President enacted a directive aiming to halt the policy, but the move was halted by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end the provision altogether.

Next, the court will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and claimants, which involve foreign-born parents and their young children.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the doctrine that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of foreign military forces.

"Anyone 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 deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is among about three dozen nations – largely in the North and South America – that award instant citizenship to anyone born in their territory.