Richard Wolf | USA TODAY

AP

Shawn Thew, EPA-EFE

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled late Friday that the Trump administration does not have to turn over documents connected to its decision to end a program that protects immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation.

It was the second time in four days that the court has sided with the administration against immigration advocates, following Monday's order enabling Trump's travel ban to go into full effect while challenges work their way through the courts.

The latest order reverses action by lower courts in California that had required the government to produce documents in the case by Dec. 22.

The Supreme Court blocked an order by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco requiring the government to turn over the documents. Instead, the court ordered opponents to respond next week to the administration's refusal to turn over the documents.

The court's four more liberal justices issued a 10-page dissent, contending that the administration's arguments "do not come close to carrying the heavy burden that the government bears in seeking such extraordinary relief."

"Judicial review cannot function if the agency is permitted to decide unilaterally what documents it submits to the reviewing court as the administrative record," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote. He was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The fight over document production is the latest battle over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which President Obama initiated in 2012 so that children of illegal immigrants would not be deported. The program has helped about 800,000 young people remain in the country.