On Thursday, the Supreme Court seemed to be looking for ways to narrow a nationwide court order that blocked President Trump's efforts to limit automatic citizenship at birth, while still upholding the block itself.

While it's unclear what the final decision will be, a majority of judges expressed concern about what might happen if the courts allowed the Trump administration, even temporarily, to deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants.

The judges listened to arguments about the Trump administration's urgent appeal against a lower court's decision, which had put a stop to the limits on citizenship across the country.

Nationwide injunctions have become a key check on President Trump's efforts to reorganize the government, causing increasing frustration for the Republican president and his supporters.

Attorney General D. John Sauer told the court at the start of a hearing lasting over two hours that since President Trump began his second term in January, 40 nationwide injunctions have been issued.

Birthright citizenship is one of several immigration issues the government is urgently asking the courts to address.

Lawsuits of that kind can be filed and dealt with quickly, and may sometimes apply across the whole country.

However, when questioned by judges like Amy Coney Barrett, Sauer suggested that the Trump administration might oppose such lawsuits or try to slow down the progress of class-action cases.

Emergency appeals heard in the Supreme Court are unusual, as judges typically focus on the key elements of the case.

However, the government hasn't yet asked the court to address bigger issues. If the court agrees with the government about nationwide injunctions, it's unclear how long these inconsistent citizenship rules for children born in the US will last.

A decision is expected to be made by the end of June.