HOUSTON, United States

The US Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear the case over whether President Donald Trump's executive order changing birthright citizenship rules violates the US Constitution, according to local media reports.

Under the president's order, children born in the United States would not be granted citizenship if one parent was illegally living in the US or was not an American citizen.

To date, under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, anyone born on US soil is automatically granted American citizenship, regardless of the parents' citizenship status, which is not mentioned in the amendment.

Several lower court rulings struck down the president's citizenship restrictions, and the order has not taken effect anywhere in the US.

The Trump administration, however, appealed the lower court decisions all the way to the nation's highest court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, and has favored Trump and the Republican Party in recent federal rulings.

The case will be argued next year, with the court hearing set for spring. A definitive ruling is expected to be reached by early summer.

Trump signed the birthright citizenship order on Jan. 20, the first day of his return to the White House for a second term. The new restrictions were seen as part of his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration in the US, but also an attempt to radically change long-standing constitutional law.

Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the Supreme Court for a final ruling.

If Trump's order were ruled legal, it would upend more than 125 years of unlimited birthright citizenship under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.