US Supreme Court has decided to review legal challenge questioning automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The nation's highest court has will hear a pivotal case that puts to the test a century-old guarantee: automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.

On day one in office this winter, President Donald Trump enacted a directive aiming to end this practice, but the move was halted by lower courts after constitutional questions were initiated.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision will ultimately support citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US without authorization or on non-immigrant visas, or it will overturn the provision altogether.

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

The 14th Amendment

For more than 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has codified the doctrine that all individuals born in the nation is a citizen, with specific conditions 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 directive sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on non-permanent visas.

The United States is among about 30 countries – largely in the Americas – that provide immediate citizenship to any person born on their soil.