The United States Supreme Court agreed today to consider the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's executive order that revokes the right to birthright citizenship for children of parents who entered the country illegally or have not yet become American citizens.
The judges thus decided to act on Trump's appeal of a lower court decision that blocked the order, and its provisions are currently not applied anywhere in the US.
The hearing before the Supreme Court will be held in the spring, and a final decision is expected in early summer.
Trump signed the controversial order on January 20, the first day of his second term as president. It is part of a fierce anti-immigrant campaign led by his Republican administration.
This campaign is facing fierce resistance in the courts.
The issue of birthright citizenship is the first in the administration's package of anti-immigration measures to be ruled on by the Supreme Court in a final decision.
If the Supreme Court accepts Trump's appeal, it will undermine a 125-year-old interpretation that the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which grants citizenship, applies to every person born on US soil - with rare and narrow exceptions relating to foreign diplomats and foreign occupation troops.
Bonus video:
