On Thursday, Tennessee appealed a federal judge’s ruling in March that dismissed the state’s lawsuit against the federal government’s resettlement of refugees in the state on 10th amendment grounds.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan representing the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and Tennessee legislators State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) and State Sen. John Stevens (R-Huntingdon) at no cost in the litigation, announced “it has filed an appeal of the federal district court decision which dismissed its case,” in a statement released on Thursday:

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and state legislators Terri Lynn Weaver and John Stevens, challenged the constitutionality of the federal refugee resettlement program as a violation of the principles of State sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. The Notice of Appeal was filed this morning with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. The appeal will be heard by a panel of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit.

“We are grateful to the designated representatives of the General Assembly, State Representatives Terri Lynn Weaver and William Lamberth and State Senator John Stevens, for authorizing us to continue this significant legal battle. This case involves critical constitutional issues regarding the appropriate balance between the powers of the federal government and the states. The district court decision dismissing this case conflicts with several U.S. Supreme Court opinions upholding State sovereignty against overreach by the federal government,” Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said in the statement.

The statement noted that the litigation was “[i]nformed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts’ observation that, ‘The States are separate and independent sovereigns. Sometimes they have to act like it.’ ”

“Tennessee has authorized the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”) to appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit which challenged the constitutionality of the federal refugee resettlement program. Although Tennessee officially withdrew from this federal program in 2007, the federal government continues, to this day, to commandeer state tax dollars to fund it,” the statement continued.

You can read the rest of the statement here.