In a significant legal development, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Jackson, Mississippi residents who sought to establish a constitutional right to clean drinking water. The Sept. 4 ruling upholds a lower court’s 2022 decision to throw out the case, which centered on the city’s aging and lead-contaminated water infrastructure.
The plaintiffs—Priscilla Sterling, Raine Becker, Shawn Miller, and John Bennett—had argued that the city’s failure to provide safe water violated their right to bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. They further contended that officials provided false assurances regarding water safety during the crisis. The legal action originated from Mississippi State Health Department testing conducted between 2010 and 2013, which revealed escalating lead levels in the city’s supply.
Writing for the majority, Judge Kurt Engelhardt acknowledged that the deprivation of clean water was “grievous,” yet concluded it did “not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.” The court expressed skepticism that the harm caused by lead exposure aligns with established legal protections for bodily integrity, noting that the plaintiffs failed to cite historical traditions or Supreme Court precedents to support their claim. Engelhardt distinguished the city’s mismanagement from past cases involving direct government actions like forced surgery or assault.
The ruling further clarified that the Constitution does not grant a right to receive “truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.” According to the court, the Constitution does not provide a remedy for every instance of government wrongdoing. Instead, the judge suggested that residents should pursue other avenues for accountability, such as petitioning the government or electing different representatives.
While the federal judiciary has now affirmed that no such right exists under the U.S. Constitution, the legal landscape remains varied across the country. Although the Mississippi state Constitution also lacks this specific guarantee, several other states, including California and Virginia, have moved to implement their own legal protections to ensure citizen access to safe water.