A federal judge in Boston on Friday extended her ban on the Trump administration’s new U.S. Postal Service rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements, handing the White House a significant defeat just as states begin sending out ballots for the November congressional elections.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued the injunction at the request of Democrat-led states and voting rights groups, replacing the 14-day temporary restraining order she had issued the previous week. The move came on the same day North Carolina became the first state to mail out absentee ballots.

The administration had asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to intervene and lift the restraining order. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority had lifted a prior Talwani order last week, but the judge’s new injunction effectively reinstates the block.

The USPS rule was designed to implement an executive order Trump signed in March, following years of the president calling to restrict voting by mail and claiming his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden was the result of widespread voter fraud. Under the rule, states would be required to supply the USPS with lists of mail ballot recipients, and all envelopes would need to bear unique barcodes. The USPS could refuse to deliver ballots that did not comply.

Voting rights advocates and several Democratic-led states convinced Talwani to block the rule, arguing it risked disenfranchising voters and was adopted in violation of the U.S. Constitution, which gives states the authority to administer elections. Justice Department lawyers countered that USPS had clear authority to implement what they called “modest” envelope design requirements.

A USPS official said in a court filing Thursday that an online portal states would use to upload voter lists was not yet active, though it could be available during the week of September 7. A whistleblower statement released Tuesday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal alleged that USPS was rushing to implement a hastily created system that risked disrupting ballot delivery.

With North Carolina already mailing ballots and numerous state election offices having already printed their envelopes, critics say the rule would force a last-minute overhaul that the USPS is not ready to implement. The administration had also asked a federal appeals court to set aside Talwani’s initial order, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had not acted before the judge issued her latest decision.