DOJ, Sessions Petitions Court To Rule On DACA Before Appeals Court

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will rush to the U.S. Supreme Court within a few days by skipping over a federal appeals court, hoping for quick action in the legal battle over shutting down the DACA program.

"It's an extremely unusual request, one that is granted once in a blue moon," said Tom Goldstein, publisher of the SCOTUSBlog website. "It's a signal by the Trump administration that they take this issue incredibly seriously and think the justices should, too."

A federal judge ruled Jan. 9 that the government could not end the program on March 6, as President Donald Trump proposed to do. DACA allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to America as children to remain in the U.S., study in school and get work permits.