The justices agreed Tuesday to decide quickly whether to hear the Trump administration's appeal of a federal district court's order to restart the DACA program without waiting for an appeals court ruling.
By setting up a fast track for both sides to submit court papers, the high court likely will consider the Justice Department's request at its Feb. 16 conference. If it decides to take the case, it could hear arguments in the spring.
That would set up a simultaneous decision-making process on the fate of some 690,000 young adults brought to the United States illegally by their parents under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established by President Barack Obama in 2012.
President Trump announced in September that the program would end March 5 unless renewed by Congress. Since then, Democrats and Republicans have squabbled over the so-called Dreamers' fate along with other immigration and border security issues ‐ most notably Trump's demand to build a wall along the Mexican border.