US Supreme Court has decided to consider case questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has decided to review a pivotal case that challenges a historic constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born in the United States.

On his first day in office this January, the administration issued an executive order aiming to halt the policy, but the order was halted by the judiciary after constitutional questions were filed.

The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will ultimately affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will end the provision completely.

Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment has codified the doctrine that every person born in the United States is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of foreign military forces.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The challenged executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is one of about three dozen nations – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that provide immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.