A federal judge temporarily barred a new federal requirement that would have forced colleges to turn over seven years of student application data, including race identifiers, after a coalition of Democratic attorneys general sued to block the policy. The order prevents the Education Department from enforcing the documentation demand while the legal challenge proceeds. University privacy officers and admissions offices had warned the rule would complicate recordkeeping, chilling applicant trust and imposing immediate compliance costs. The decision is an interim legal win for campuses and civil-rights advocates who argued the policy exceeds federal authority and threatens applicants’ privacy; the case will test limits on federal access to institutional admissions records.