US President Donald Trump on Thursday (March 13) asked the US Supreme Court to allow his administration's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.

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Trump's executive order barred a child born in the US to have the country's citizenship if not at least one of the parents is a permanent US citizen. It further blocked federal agencies from issuing or recognising documentation that prove US citizenship for children born to unauthorised immigrants and also to those having a temporary immigrant status in America.

Sarah Harris, the justice department’s acting solicitor general, filed a petition to the US apex court, asking it to restrict orders by district courts of three states that blocked Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship. 

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The court filing has called the Trump administration's request “modest”, asking it to ‘restrict the scope’ of multiple preliminary injunctions that ‘purport to cover every person in the country,’ limiting those injunctions to parties actually within the courts’ power. 

“Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current administration,” Sarah said, The Guardian reported. 

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She added: "That sharp rise in universal injunctions stops the executive branch from performing its constitutional functions before any courts fully examine the merits of those actions, and threatens to swamp this court’s emergency docket."

The court filing comes after Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office on January 20. The order was part of the US president's crackdown on immigration. 

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The 14th amendment of the US constitution says "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside”. 

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At least eight lawsuits were filed against Trump's executive order which led to it being blocked nationwide for now. 

(With inputs from agencies)