The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to rein in lower court rulings that have prevented a ban on birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide.

Judges should not be able to govern “the whole Nation” from their courtrooms by issuing universal injunctions that block policies across the entire country while litigation is pending, the administration told the justices in its application.

“District courts have issued more universal injunctions and TROs [temporary restraining orders] during February 2025 alone than through the first three years of the Biden Administration,” the application states. “That sharp rise in universal injunctions stops the Executive Branch from performing its constitutional functions before any courts fully examine the merits of those actions, and threatens to swamp this Court’s emergency docket.”

The Trump administration is not yet asking the justices to weigh in directly on the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship. Instead, they ask the justices to limit the common practice of universal injunctions that “compromise the Executive Branch’s ability to carry out its functions, as administrations of both parties have explained.”