WASHINGTON — The administration of President Donald Trump is urging the Supreme Court to uphold his order on birthright citizenship, which contends that children born in the United States to parents who are illegally or temporarily present are not American citizens.

The appeal, announced in collaboration with The Associated Press on Saturday, launches a process at the Supreme Court that could yield a definitive decision from the justices by early summer regarding the constitutionality of these citizenship limitations.

Judges in lower courts have thus far prevented the restrictions from being enforced anywhere. The Republican administration is not requesting the court to implement the restrictions prior to its ruling.

The Justice Department’s petition has been shared with lawyers for parties challenging the order, but is not yet docketed at the Supreme Court.

“The rulings from the lower court overturned a key policy for the president and his administration in a way that weakens our border security,” wrote Solicitor General D. John Sauer. “These rulings unjustly grant the privilege of American citizenship to hundreds of thousands of unqualified individuals.”

Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who represents the children potentially affected by Trump’s restrictions, stated that the administration’s proposal is clearly unconstitutional.

“This executive order is illegal, without question, and no administrative maneuvering can alter that. We will keep fighting to ensure that no child’s citizenship is stripped away by this harsh and illogical order,” Wofsy asserted in an email.

Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term in the White House that would upend more than 125 years of understanding that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

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