The nation's highest court will review legal challenge questioning citizenship by birth.

The US Supreme Court has will hear a significant case that questions a longstanding principle: guaranteed citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this January, President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the move was struck down by lower courts after lawsuits were filed.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will either support citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end the provision completely.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear arguments between the government and claimants, which comprise parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the rule that all individuals born in the country is a US citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats 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 contested executive order sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States belongs to a group of about a minority of states – largely in the Americas – that award instant citizenship to anyone born on their soil.