America's top judicial body will hear legal challenge disputing citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a significant case that challenges a historic guarantee: automatic citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end the policy, but the order was struck down by the judiciary after lawsuits were filed.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the infants of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will end those rights entirely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the government and the suing parties, which include parents who are immigrants and their infants.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that every person born in the United States is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel 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 contested executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US without legal status or are in the country on temporary visas.

The United States is one of about a minority of states – primarily in the Americas – that award immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.