President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court in a series of emergency appeals Thursday to allow him to move forward with plans to end birthright citizenship, elevating a fringe legal theory that several lower courts have resoundingly rejected.

Trump administration lawyers asked the justices to limit the sweep of decisions by three lower courts that issued nationwide pauses on the policy.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to stop appeals court rulings that blocked Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship, which would deny U.S. citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents are undocumented or on temporary visas.