On Thursday, the highest court seemed ready to keep the rule that stops President Trump from limiting who can be a citizen by birth. They also want to find a way to make court orders that affect the whole country less powerful.

It's not clear what the decision will be, but most of the judges are worried about what would happen if the government could refuse to give citizenship to children born in the US to people living here illegally, even for a short time.

The judges listened to the government's urgent appeal against lower court orders. These orders stopped the government from limiting citizenship across the country.

These national orders have become an important way to control President Trump's efforts to change the government. But the President and his supporters are not happy about them.

A lawyer, D. John Sauer, told the court that judges have made 40 national orders since President Trump started his second term in January. The discussion lasted more than two hours.

The question of citizenship by birth is just one of many immigration issues that the government wants the court to deal with quickly.

These kinds of cases can be brought quickly and decided fast, and they can affect the whole country.

But when Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked questions, Mr. Sauer said that the government would probably disagree with these lawsuits or try to slow them down.

It is unusual for the highest court to have debates about urgent appeals. Usually, the judges deal with the main points of the argument.

The government is not asking the court to decide the bigger question yet. If the court agrees with the government on the national orders, it's not clear how long the different rules about citizenship for children born in the US will last.

A decision is expected by the end of June.