The White House blasted "activist" federal judges and called on the U.S. Supreme Court to rein them in on Wednesday as President Donald Trump and his allies escalated their attacks against judges who have ruled against his administration.

The latest plea comes in the form of an emergency appeal the Justice Department filed with the court last week, seeking to narrow orders issued by judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington that prohibit the nationwide enforcement of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to restrict birthright citizenship.

As it pushes to implement a plan to end birthright citizenship, the Trump administration is counting on an argument about out-of-control federal judges to prove irresistible to some Supreme Court conservatives.