US Supreme Court has decided to review lawsuit questioning birthright citizenship.

The top court has decided to review a landmark case that challenges a historic guarantee: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born on American soil.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the move was halted by lower courts after constitutional questions were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the infants of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will nullify them altogether.

Next, the court will calendar a session to hear arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which involve immigrant parents and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that every person born in the United States is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel 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 challenged presidential 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 non-permanent visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.