Jackson, Mississippi residents sued over lead-contaminated water, but a federal judge ruled clean water isn’t a constitutional right

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a case brought against Jackson, Mississippi. Residents filed the suit in 2022 and alleged city officials knew people were drinking water contaminated with lead. The plaintiffs argued that this conduct violated a constitutional right to bodily integrity, reports Mother Jones.

Judge Kurt Engelhardt, appointed by Donald Trump, rejected that argument. “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing,” Engelhardt said. “Defendants’ actions allegedly deprived Plaintiffs of clean water and guileless information. These deprivations, while grievous, do not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.”

Engelhardt also said Americans have no “constitutional right to truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.” The residents claimed city leaders kept quiet about how toxic the water was and then issued boil-water notices that can kill some bacteria while concentrating lead.

Appeals court said the federal Constitution does not guarantee clean drinking water

The Fifth Circuit treated the U.S. Constitution as too limited to support the residents’ claim, according to the decision described in the report. At least nine states and more than a dozen countries treat clean drinking water as a protected right. Uruguay and South Africa include a right to clean water in their constitutions.

A 2021 amendment to New York’s state constitution says “each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” Massachusetts has protected “the right to clean air and water” in its constitution since 1972. The debate over such constitutional protections can extend to public events, as seen when a vessel was forced out of a New York ship parade over a banner about saving the Clean Water Act. 

Jackson is more than 80 percent Black and its poverty rate is more than twice the national average, the report stated. The city’s water system has needed major upgrades for years. Mississippi State Department of Health officials found elevated lead levels in 2015, according to Grist. Those officials stayed silent for six months while people kept drinking the water.

EPA testing in 2020 found “persistent and concerning violations” of water safety rules, including leaks, corrosion, and high lead levels across the system, the article stated. For Jackson residents, the dangers of contaminated water extend beyond lead, as a Texas teen recently suffered severe chemical burns from her home’s water. 

City, state, and federal agencies did not fix the system during the period described. Plaintiff Priscilla Sterling and others kept using water with unsafe lead levels, according to the 2022 lawsuit. The lawsuit said several of Sterling’s children later received lead-poisoning diagnoses, which can cause permanent brain damage. 

About one in four Jackson residents are children, a group especially at risk of lasting harm from lead, the report noted. The same Friday, the Trump EPA issued a supplemental rule that further weakens the Clean Water Act, a move environmental groups quickly criticized.

“The administration is clearly struggling to craft a rule that will hold up in court while satisfying their donors’ desire to effectively scrap these protections wherever possible,” said Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation. “One thing is clear: If we don’t protect our streams and wetlands, the cost of dirtier drinking water and increased flooding will flow downstream to households at a time when most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.”