US Supreme Court has decided to consider case challenging birthright citizenship.

The nation's highest court has agreed to take on a landmark case that puts to the test a longstanding constitutional right: guaranteed citizenship for individuals born in the United States.

On day one in office this winter, the administration signed an order aiming to end this practice, but the action was subsequently blocked by lower courts after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final decision will either support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn those rights completely.

Next, the judges will set a time to hear arguments between the administration and plaintiffs, which involve foreign-born parents and their young children.

The Legal Foundation

For over a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the principle that all individuals born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"Anyone 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 offspring of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is among about three dozen nations – largely in the North and South America – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born in their territory.