A federal court blocked the Education Department from enforcing a new race and sex data survey deadline for additional higher education institutions as a lawsuit proceeds. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor issued a preliminary injunction covering roughly 178 more colleges, including member institutions of multiple higher education associations and private nonprofits. The new survey requires selective-admissions institutions to submit detailed applicant and enrollees data for 2025–26 and prior years, including breakdowns by race and sex and measures such as GPA, standardized test scores, and family income. The court’s order paused enforcement and also barred the Education Department from seeking civil penalties or other enforcement actions linked to those institutions’ survey submissions. The ruling followed earlier injunctions that blocked enforcement for public colleges in 17 largely Democratic-controlled states. The Education Department argued most covered institutions already provided partial or complete data, but Saylor cited burden and imminent risk of fines and federal funding loss. The decision increases compliance uncertainty for selective colleges that had submitted some data but still faced uncertainty around reporting scope, deadlines, and potential penalties—especially ahead of the next compliance cycle.