US Supreme Court will consider lawsuit disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The US Supreme Court has decided to review a landmark case that challenges a longstanding principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On day one in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the action was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision entirely.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear arguments between the federal government and plaintiffs, which involve foreign-born parents and their infants.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has enshrined the doctrine that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and members 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 disputed presidential order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is one of about 30 countries – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.