The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it would grant the Department of Justice’s request to quickly decide whether it will hear the Trump administration's appeal of a case that halted its phaseout of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

In a brief order, the justices said they granted the administration’s request to decide whether they should hear the case before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals can do so — a request filed last week by the Justice Department.

The justices could decide whether to take the case as early as their Feb. 16 conference.

On Thursday, the Justice Department asked Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling to block, in part, the Trump administration’s decision to phase out the DACA program. The unusual step bypasses the 9th Circuit, which would have been the normal move to overturn U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s ruling.

This month, the San Francisco-based judge ordered the Trump administration to renew parts of DACA and start accepting renewal applications from those already part of the program while related lawsuits make their way through the legal system. However, Alsup did not demand that new applications be accepted.