A federal judge is temporarily putting on hold President Trump’s attempt to re-interpret a portion of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to everyone born on American soil, through executive order. 

A district court judge at Seattle, John Coughenour, who was appointed by President Reagan, expressed his shock that the executive order was issued in the first place. 

“I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case whether the question presented was as clear,” Judge Coughenour said, telling lawyers for the Justice Department that it “boggles” his mind that a member of the bar would defend it. 

Judge Coughenour suspended enforcement of the order for 14 days while he considers the challenge brought by the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon. 

“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” the judge said. 

In a statement after the decision came down, a White House spokesman, Harrison Fields, said, “Radical Leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda.

“These lawsuits are nothing more than an extension of the Left’s resistance — and the Trump Administration is ready to face them in court,” Mr. Fields said.

Trump issued the executive order on Monday as one of his first actions as president. It directs federal agencies to interpret the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to those born on American soil, as excluding children whose parents are in the country illegally. It also directs agencies to exclude the children of people who are in the country lawfully but do not have permanent legal resident status. 

Mr. Trump’s order notes that the amendment states birthright citizenship shall be granted to people who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and argues that people in the country illegally are not subject to that jurisdiction.

The order instead directs agencies to grant children of illegal migrants “lawful but temporary status.”

Immigration advocates argued from the get-go that the executive order was unconstitutional and would not hold up in court. Eighteen other states and the American Civil Liberties Union have signed onto lawsuits challenging it. 

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 to provide citizenship rights for black Americans. Since then, it has been interpreted to provide citizenship to anyone born on American soil, even if their parents did not have legal status. 

Mr. Trump has discussed the idea of ending the 14th Amendment going back to his first term. He told reporters on Monday he believes his executive orders would survive legal challenges.

The decision to try to unilaterally re-interpret the 14th Amendment through executive action could also be an attempt by the administration to invite legal challenges and start the process of the Supreme Court revisiting its earlier interpretations of the amendment.