America's top judicial body will review legal challenge disputing citizenship by birth.

The top court has decided to review a landmark case that questions a historic constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President issued an executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the order was halted by the judiciary after constitutional questions were initiated.

The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas, or it will nullify the provision entirely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear the case between the federal government and plaintiffs, which involve parents who are immigrants and their newborns.

The 14th Amendment

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

The United States is among about 30 countries – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that award automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.