🔗 Share this article America's top judicial body will hear legal challenge disputing citizenship by birth. The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for people born within US borders. On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President signed an order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the order was halted by lower courts after lawsuits were brought forward. The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights completely. Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear the case between the government and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their infants. The Legal Foundation For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the country 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 presidential order sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status. The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.
The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a historic principle: guaranteed citizenship for people born within US borders. On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President signed an order aiming to halt birthright citizenship, but the order was halted by lower courts after lawsuits were brought forward. The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights completely. Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear the case between the government and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their infants. The Legal Foundation For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the doctrine that anyone born in the country 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 presidential order sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US illegally or are in the country on short-term status. The United States is one of about a minority of states – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to all those born on their soil.