The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices appeared divided during a hearing Tuesday about whether the Constitution’s guarantee of “just compensation” for property taken by the government creates an independent right to file lawsuits without additional legislation.

The case involves landowners’ claims that Texas caused extensive damage to their properties due to flooding created by a highway project. In their lawsuits, 120 people and five corporate entities allege Texas installed a large concrete barrier along Interstate Highway 10 that prevented water drainage and inundated their farms with backwater during storms, destroying crops, livestock and machinery.