The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in May on the Justice Department's emergency request to narrow a string of district court orders blocking President Donald Trump's executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship from taking effect.
While the Trump administration has not yet asked the high court to rule on the constitutionality of the president's order, it has requested that the justices address the use of universal injunctions, which go far beyond the parties involved in a case to apply to anyone who could be affected.
According to The Hill, the court's order on Thursday keeps Trump's plan on hold until after oral arguments are heard on May 15.
The justices' decision to hear oral arguments next month is rare, given that they usually take place between October and April. Most emergency applications are also resolved without oral arguments being scheduled.
Trump's order was signed as part of a flurry of executive actions on his first day back in office. It seeks to end birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to parents in the country illegally. Multiple judges have ruled that the sweeping restriction runs afoul of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the citizenship clause of the Constitution's 14th Amendment.
Federal judges in Maryland, Seattle and Boston have issued nationwide injunctions to prohibit the enforcement of Trump's order. The White House has appealed those court orders, but appeals courts have declined to overturn them.
The Hill reported that nearly a dozen lawsuits have been filed in response to Trump's order, including some that haven't reached the Supreme Court.
Alleging that district court judges are overstepping their authority in hamstringing Trump's second-term agenda, the administration has filed a slew of emergency applications at the Supreme Court, calling on the justices to lift the nationwide injunctions it asserts are keeping the president from delivering on campaign promises.
The Justice Department is asking the high court to narrow the injunctions so they apply only to the parties involved — the individuals, organizations and 22 Democratic-led states that are suing over the executive order.