ALSO SEE: Postmaster General Confirms Plan to Hold Back Mail Ballots Under Proposed Rule

The decision marks a win for the states that have challenged the president’s effort to crack down on mail-in voting ahead of a consequential November midterm.

A federal judge in Massachusetts barred the Postal Service on Thursday from restricting the delivery of mail-in ballots to states that don’t hand over a list of eligible voters, rebuffing President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on a voting method he has long targeted.

The agency, charged with delivering parcels to every address in the nation, neither possesses the constitutional authority to administer elections — a responsibility delegated to the states — nor has it been granted power by Congress to create binding regulations on voting by mail, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani stated in the decision.

The ruling is a victory for the 23 states and Washington, D.C., which sued the Trump administration over the president’s March executive order that demanded the agency implement such a rule.

Trump has repeatedly tried to overhaul election administration via executive orders, and other portions have previously been blocked by other federal judges. Talwani’s decision also blocks another part of the executive order directing the federal government to compile a list of American citizens residing in states.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment and the Department of Justice declined to comment, but the Trump administration will likely challenge the ruling.

Talwani — an Obama appointee — furthermore ruled that the executive order’s timing made it impossible for the Postal Service to propose the rule through the proper bureaucratic channels, providing “no allowance for Congress’ mandated procedure regarding USPS rulemaking.”

The president has sought to crack down on mail-in voting for years, claiming with no evidence that the method has led to widespread voting fraud.

His latest push comes ahead of the consequential November midterm, a contest ahead of which some Republicans on the Hill are doubting their electoral chances amid congressional gridlock.

The Postal Service’s chief executive, Postmaster General David Steiner, has been supportive of the president’s order. He dismissed Senate Democrats’ concerns that the regulations are an attempt to seize control of elections, instead characterizing the plan as a means to ensure that the right ballots are being sent to the right people during a Wednesday committee hearing.

Asked whether the Postal Service has the authority to implement those rules, Steiner said he’d “have to defer back to the courts.”