Story highlights Stephen Breyer, joined by the three other liberal justices, dissented

A Justice Department spokesman praised the Supreme Court's order

(CNN) A divided Supreme Court agreed 5-4 on Friday to temporarily put on hold a lower court order requiring the government to turn over documents related to its decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The program is an Obama-era policy that defers deportation for some undocumented youth who had been brought to the United States as children.

The Supreme Court's order is a setback for challengers, including California and the regents of the University of California, who contend that the Trump administration violated federal law when it abruptly decided to rescind the program. The challengers had sought the documents to bolster their case, pending in California.

Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by the three other liberal justices, dissented from the court's order. Stressing that the lower court has still not heard the merits of the case, Breyer criticized the majority for intervening "in this kind of discovery-related dispute."

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