Over the past year, those who followed up on high-profile cases that saw Black Americans lose their lives at the hands of police found themselves waiting with anxiety to find out what kind of consequences the officers involved would face.
And indeed, the progress of these cases have been hard to predict as the officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor received no charges while Derek Chauvin was recently found guilty on all charges for his role in the death of George Floyd.
But while these cases went on, there was another legal matter developing that was 15 years in the making. And the implications it has had for American justice were just as important.