Trump asks Supreme Court to allow some birthright citizenship restrictions as court case plays out

Justice Department attorneys asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to "restrict the scope" of lower court rulings that sought to bar President Donald Trump from ending the practice of birthright citizenship.

Trump issued an executive order shortly after he assumed office on Jan. 20 that sought to end the long-standing practice of granting citizenship to anyone born on US territory. He was immediately met with legal challenges that resulted in successive court orders from federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington that prohibit the order from being implemented.

It remains blocked nationwide.

Sarah Harris, the acting solicitor general, wrote in an emergency filing with the Supreme Court that the scope of the rulings should be limited to the small number of individuals and groups who sued to halt the order's implementation, or to states where the rulings were issued, while the court cases play out.

Harris said that "at a minimum" the top court should halt the preliminary injunctions that prevented the orders from being enacted "to the extent they prohibit executive agencies from developing and issuing guidance explaining how they would implement the Citizenship Order in the event that it takes effect."

Birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the US Constitution since 1868 when the 14th Amendment was adopted. It stipulates that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."