What to watch for during the Supreme Court’s historic birthright citizenship arguments

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday about President Donald Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship and significantly limit the power of federal courts to slow his agenda – a case that has been rushed onto the high court’s docket less than four months after he returned to the White House.

Though not framed as a case on the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, the emergency appeal nevertheless asks the 6-3 conservative court to allow the administration to widely enforce an order Trump signed on his first day in office that would deny passports and other documents to babies born to non-US citizens.

Meny holds a sonogram of her child. Editor's note: CNN has edited portions of this photo to protect Meny's privacy.

These pregnant moms eye Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship arguments with fear

Along the way, Trump is hoping a majority of justices will also block courts in the future from pausing his policies on a nationwide basis.

In that sense, the case – the first involving Trump to be argued at the court during his second term – is a culmination of the administration’s norm-busting approach to the law.

Trump, who has railed against individual judges who rule against him, argues that it is the courts that have overstepped their authority by second-guessing an agenda he was elected last year to carry out. Trump’s attorneys have framed their request as “modest,” an effort to limit court orders that temporarily pause his agenda only to those people who sue over them, not everyone else in the nation.

Trump is not alone in chafing against those orders. Both Democratic and Republican presidents have complained about what they view as “activist” judges.

But a key question for the Supreme Court – and an important dynamic to watch Thursday – is whether a majority of justices are prepared to address that more technical issue with a decision that could, in effect, allow the government to upend how birthright citizenship has been understood for more than a century.