The nation's highest court will review case disputing citizenship by birth.

The nation's highest court has will hear a landmark case that challenges a century-old principle: automatic citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, the President issued an executive order aiming to terminate the policy, but the move was halted by the judiciary after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final decision will either uphold citizenship rights for the children of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will nullify those rights completely.

Next, the justices will set a time to hear oral arguments between the federal government and plaintiffs, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.

A Constitutional Cornerstone

For nearly 160 years, the Constitutional amendment has established the rule that all individuals born in the country is a American citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to embassy personnel 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 executive order sought to refuse 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 provide automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.