The Supreme Court majority built by Donald Trump could uphold efforts to expand presidential authority based on the legal principle of unitary executive theory.

A federal judge who already questioned the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order is set to hear arguments over a longer-term pause of the directive.

President Donald Trump has faced several setbacks from federal courts, which have blocked or paused some of his most controversial plans since taking office.

A judge in Seattle previously blocked Trump's attempt to limit the long-standing constitutional protection. This latest order came from Maryland.

SEATTLE — A federal judge who already questioned the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order is set to hear arguments Thursday over a longer-term pause of the directive, which aims to end citizenship for children born to parents not legally in the country.

"The government has cloaked what is effectively a constitutional amendment under the guise of an executive order," the judge said.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued the injunction at a hearing on a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups arguing that Trump’s order is unconstitutional.

A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday accused Donald Trump of ignoring the rule of law for political and personal gain as he declared an executive order that the Republican president signed seeking to curtail birthright citizenship to be unconstitutional.

A second federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, accusing the Trump administration of ignoring the Constitution for political gain. CNN’s Paula Reid reports.