The Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for relatives of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims to sue the Remington Arms Company, the maker of the rifle used in the massacre.

The court said that it would not hear an appeal by Remington of a ruling by Connecticut’s Supreme Court that allowed a lawsuit brought by the families of the victims to go forward. The case has been seen as a test of the ability of plaintiffs to pierce the legal immunity of firearm manufacturers in the aftermath of shootings.

The case, Remington Arms v. Soto, was an outgrowth of a suit brought in Connecticut by relatives of those killed in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 first graders and six educators. The Connecticut case is Soto v. Bushmaster.

The Supreme Court’s announcement that it would not take up the case effectively confirmed that there is a path to challenging a federal law enacted in 2005 that shields gun makers, dealers and distributors from lawsuits after gun-related crimes.