Six years after her son was killed by a Seattle police officer involved in multiple deadly encounters, a federal judge cleared the way for Rose Johnson’s excessive force lawsuit to move forward.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly set a tentative trial date of Sept. 15 after an appeals court this year rejected the officer’s claim of qualified immunity, the much-debated legal doctrine that can shield police officers from civil rights claims.

The ruling on March 3 by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a sign of the incremental change unfolding in courts and statehouses across the country as legislative efforts to reform qualified immunity in Congress have stalled.