Public interest lawyers will try to convince a federal judge Thursday that they have standing to challenge a key component of President Donald Trump's deregulatory agenda.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments in the case, in which two public interest groups and a union allege Trump exceeded his constitutional authority when he issued the so-called “1-in-2-out” executive order on regulations in January. The groups, which include Public Citizen, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Communication Workers of America, argue that Trump's order puts requirements on federal agencies that are inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws passed by Congress. Whether the groups have standing to bring such a claim, some lawyers and legal scholars said, could decide the lawsuit's fate.

“At first blush, the idea that people could challenge a president's instructions to agencies to eliminate regulations would seem so general and nonfinal that, at first, you would think that maybe it's not timely for a challenge,” said William Buzbee, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who studies administrative and constitutional law.