🔗 Share this article The nation's highest court has decided to hear legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US. The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born on American soil. On day one in office this winter, the President signed an order aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward. The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end them completely. Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the government and the suing parties, which comprise immigrant parents and their young children. The Legal Foundation For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces. "Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The challenged directive sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on temporary visas. The United States is among about 30 countries – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that grant instant citizenship to any person born in their territory.
The top court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a historic constitutional right: automatic citizenship for those born on American soil. On day one in office this winter, the President signed an order aiming to terminate the policy, but the action was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after lawsuits were brought forward. The Supreme Court's ultimate judgment will either uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end them completely. Next, the justices will calendar a session to hear oral arguments between the government and the suing parties, which comprise immigrant parents and their young children. The Legal Foundation For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the country is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel of invading forces. "Every individual born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The challenged directive sought to deny citizenship to the offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on temporary visas. The United States is among about 30 countries – mostly in the Western Hemisphere – that grant instant citizenship to any person born in their territory.