The nation's highest court will consider legal challenge challenging birthright citizenship.

The top court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that puts to the test a century-old principle: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.

On his first day in office this winter, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to terminate this practice, but the order was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately support citizenship rights for the infants of migrants who are in the US illegally or on short-term permits, or it will end them entirely.

Next, the court will set a time to hear arguments between the federal government and claimants, which involve immigrant parents and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the rule that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with exceptions for children born to foreign diplomats and members of invading forces.

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

The disputed presidential order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Americas – that award immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.