Lower courts had been divided over whether judges must limit their scrutiny of challenges to police shootings to the seconds preceding them.

In a case making it easier to challenge police unreasonable force in court, the Supreme Court Thursday unanimously allowed the mother of a Houston man killed in a traffic stop to continue an excessive force court claim.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the actions prior to a deadly encounter should also be considered. It’s a precedent that was set over 35 years ago as a result of a case that took place in Charlotte.