Education Secretary Betsy DeVos lost a lawsuit brought by 19 states and the District of Columbia, accusing her department of wrongly delaying implementation of Obama-era regulations meant to protect student loan borrowers from predatory practices.

A Washington federal court judge ruled Wednesday that the department’s postponement of the so-called Borrower Defense rule was procedurally improper. The case, Bauer vs. DeVos, includes California among the plaintiffs.