With Justice Clarence Thomas taking the lead, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday made it more difficult for class action defendants to transfer their cases from plaintiff-friendly state courts to more business-friendly federal courts.

Thomas wrote the majority opinion in Home Depot USA v. Jackson, ruling that so-called third-party counterclaim defendants in class actions do not have the authority under the Class Action Fairness Act to transfer or remove their cases to federal courts.

The rare pro-consumer ruling in a class action was even more unusual because of the uncommon allies who joined Thomas: liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. That lineup had not taken place in a 5-4 ruling since 2014.