The Supreme Court is racing Congress to decide the future of the Dreamers.

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.

Those talks most recently have been intertwined with ongoing federal budget negotiations, resulting in the three-day government shutdown that ended Tuesday.  

The Supreme Court's involvement is unusual because U.S. District Judge William Alsup's decision usually would go first to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit -- a predominately liberal court that has ruled consistently against the administration on immigration issues.

The Justice Department last week appealed to both courts, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions acknowledged was a "rare step." In the meantime, it did not ask either court to block Alsup's ruling from taking effect, allowing Dreamers to submit renewal applications for protection from deportation.

The strategy is aimed at a speedy final resolution to the legal battle, possibly at a friendlier court. The Supreme Court has allowed other Trump administration policies to continue, most notably his immigration travel ban, over federal court rejections.