America's top judicial body will consider lawsuit disputing automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a significant case that puts to the test a historic guarantee: automatic citizenship for those born within US borders.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, the administration issued an executive order aiming to end this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after legal challenges were initiated.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will end those rights completely.

Next, the court will schedule a date to hear the case between the administration and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the United States is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel 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 executive order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about 30 countries – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to any person born on their soil.