The nation's highest court will review lawsuit challenging citizenship by birth.

The top court has decided to review a pivotal case that challenges a century-old constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born on American soil.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to halt the policy, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward.

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 temporary visas, or it will nullify them entirely.

Next, the court will schedule a date to hear arguments between the federal government and claimants, which involve parents who are immigrants and their young children.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to diplomats and members 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 disputed executive order sought to refuse citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States belongs to a group of about 30 countries – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.