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

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a pivotal case that questions a historic constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born on American soil.

On day one in office this winter, the President signed an order aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the action was struck down by federal courts after constitutional questions were filed.

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling will ultimately support citizenship rights for the children of immigrants who are in the US without authorization or on short-term permits, or it will end the provision altogether.

Next, the judges will schedule a date to hear the case between the federal government and claimants, which involve foreign-born parents and their newborns.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principle that every person born in the country is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to embassy personnel and personnel 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 contested directive sought to withhold citizenship to the offspring of people who are whether in the US illegally or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is one of about 30 countries – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant immediate citizenship to all those born within their borders.