San Francisco Frontiers - Fifth Circuit upholds dismissal of Jackson residents' constitutional water claims

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by Jackson residents who said the city's handling of lead-contaminated water violated their constitutional right to bodily integrity. The lawsuit was first filed in 2022.

Judge Kurt Engelhardt, appointed by Donald Trump, concluded that the alleged deprivation of clean water and accurate information did not violate a deeply rooted federal constitutional right. The ruling concerns the constitutional grounds asserted in this case; it does not establish that every form of water protection is absent from other laws or jurisdictions.

The plaintiffs alleged that officials deliberately withheld information about the contamination. They also said boil-water notices aggravated the danger: boiling can address some bacterial contamination but concentrates lead rather than removing it.

Engelhardt also rejected a claimed constitutional entitlement to truthful information from officials during a public-health emergency. He acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations while explaining that the Constitution does not provide a remedy for every instance of government wrongdoing.

The case arose from longstanding problems in Jackson's water infrastructure. Mississippi State Department of Health officials identified elevated lead levels in 2015. According to reporting by Grist cited in the article, residents were not told about the findings for six months.

EPA testing in 2020 identified continuing violations involving leaks, corrosion and high lead levels across the system. The problems remained unresolved while residents continued using the water, according to the account.

One plaintiff, Priscilla Sterling, alleged in the lawsuit that several of her children were diagnosed with lead poisoning. Children are especially vulnerable to lasting harm from lead exposure, which can include permanent damage to the brain.

Jackson's population is more than 80 percent Black, its poverty rate is more than twice the national average, and children make up about a quarter of its residents. The litigation places those circumstances alongside the city's prolonged need for water-system upgrades.

Legal protections differ across jurisdictions. The report identified clean drinking water as a protected right at state level in at least nine US states and in more than a dozen countries. Uruguay and South Africa are among countries with constitutional water rights.

New York added a right to clean air, water and a healthful environment to its constitution in 2021. Massachusetts has constitutionally protected clean air and water since 1972. Those provisions are separate from the federal constitutional claims rejected in the Jackson case.

The article also reported that the Trump administration's EPA issued a supplemental water rule on the same Friday as the court decision. Environmental groups criticized the proposal as a further weakening of Clean Water Act protections.

Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation argued that reduced protection for streams and wetlands would transfer costs associated with contaminated drinking water and flooding to households. That criticism concerns the administration's regulatory proposal, while the appeals ruling addresses the distinct legal claims made by Jackson residents.

L.Ramos--SFF