Trump Increasingly Asks The Supreme Court To Overrule Judges Blocking Key Parts Of His Agenda

As losses mount in lower federal courts, President Donald Trump has returned to a tactic that he employed at the Supreme Court with remarkable success in his first term.

Three times in the past week, and six since Trump took office a little more than two months ago, the Justice Department has asked the conservative-majority high court to step into cases much earlier than usual.

The administration's use of the emergency appeals, or shadow docket , comes as it faces more than 130 lawsuits over the Republican president's flurry of executive orders . Many of the lawsuits have been filed in liberal-leaning parts of the country as the court system becomes ground zero for pushback to his policies.

Federal judges have ruled against the administration more than 40 times, issuing temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions, the Justice Department said Friday in a Supreme Court filing . The issues include birthright citizenship changes, federal spending, transgender rights and deportations under a rarely used 18th-century law.

The administration is increasingly asking the Supreme Court, which Trump helped shape by nominating three justices, to step in, not only to rule in its favor but also to send a message to federal judges, who Trump and his allies claim are overstepping their authority.