A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s demand that public colleges and universities submit detailed race- and gender-related admissions data going back seven years, pausing parts of the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS). The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Saylor IV—covering 17 Democratic-led states—followed lawsuits by those attorneys general challenging ACTS as unlawful and improperly rushed. Saylor concluded the Education Department and the Office of Management and Budget lacked authority to impose ACTS “under the circumstances presented,” citing an expedited timeline that limited meaningful notice-and-comment input by the National Center for Education Statistics. The decision preserves a broader legal fight over whether ACTS is consistent with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling limiting race-conscious admissions. The administration’s stated goal is to ensure institutional compliance with the Supreme Court decision, but the judge found procedural defects and administrative burdens that could cause “irreparable harm” for institutions forced to comply. The injunction applies only to the states that joined the litigation. In parallel, another ruling earlier this week paused the ACTS data collection for about 200 colleges in those same states, setting up continued uncertainty for campuses preparing admissions reporting compliance processes.