Can’t what, you ask? Can’t block Syrian refugees from settling in Texas. In his order on Thursday, Judge Godbey rejected claims that the government and the IRC were violating the Refugee Act of 1980 because the law as written doesn’t give Texas or any other state or locality the right to sue.

Texas claimed it had the right to refuse refugee resettlement within its borders. The Court interpreted the law as written by Congress differently:

In fact, the House Committee on the Judiciary, in considering the House version of a 1986 amendment to the Refugee Act, noted that the consultation requirement is “not intended to give States and localities any veto power over refugee placement decisions, but rather to ensure their input into the process and to improve their resettlement planning capacity.” H.R. Rep. No. 99-132, at 19 (1985). The legislative history of the Refugee Act simply does not support the [Texas Health and Human Service] Commission’s position.

In other words, states must be included in the resettlement discussions but only to provide local knowledge of where best the refugees might find services they need and other things of that nature.

If I were a Syrian refugee and I’d been paying attention throughout this process I’d ask that I be resettled someplace else; it’s pretty clear the state of Texas doesn’t want me around and would provide me no more help than a judge orders it to.