The Trump administration filed a series of emergency appeals in the US Supreme Court on Thursday (local time), seeking permission to proceed with its plan to end birthright citizenship. The Trump administration contended that lower courts had gone too far in issuing orders blocking the policy.

In January, a federal judge termed Trumps executive order “blatantly unconstitutional” and blocked its implementation. Later, a Maryland judge said Trump’s plan “runs counter to the nation’s history of citizenship by birth”. Appeals courts have been brushing aside the US government’s request.