The nation's highest court will hear legal challenge disputing birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a significant case that questions a historic principle: automatic citizenship for people born on American soil.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to end the policy, but the order was halted by lower courts after legal challenges were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US undocumented or on short-term permits, or it will nullify those rights completely.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear arguments between the government and the suing parties, which involve foreign-born parents and their newborns.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For nearly 160 years, the Constitutional amendment has codified the rule that anyone born in the country is a American 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 challenged presidential order sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States belongs to a group of about 30 countries – largely in the Western Hemisphere – that grant instant citizenship to all those born in their territory.