US Supreme Court has decided to review legal challenge questioning birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for individuals born within US borders.

On his first day in office this winter, the President signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the action was struck down by federal courts after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will either uphold citizenship rights for the children of migrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision entirely.

Next, the court will calendar a session to hear arguments between the administration and claimants, which include foreign-born parents and their infants.

The 14th Amendment

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has established the doctrine that anyone born in the country is a US citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and members 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 executive order sought to deny citizenship to the children 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 a minority of states – mostly in the North and South America – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.