A private company building a gas pipeline can’t use eminent domain to acquire properties belonging to the state of New Jersey along the project’s route from northeast Pennsylvania to just north of Trenton, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday.

A district court judge granted PennEast orders of condemnation and immediate access to 42 properties belonging to the state and its various agencies. But on Tuesday, the appeals court reversed, finding that condemnation powers granted to private pipeline builders under the Natural Gas Act do not permit them to take land owned by the state, which enjoys immunity from federal lawsuits by private parties under the 11th Amendment.