On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing the city of Jackson, Mississippi, of knowingly forcing residents to consume lead-contaminated tap water. The court sided with Judge Kurt Engelhardt, a appointee of Donald Trump, who determined that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to safe drinking water or transparency regarding its quality.
The legal challenge, originally filed in 2022, argued that the city’s failure to address water toxicity violated plaintiffs’ constitutional right to bodily integrity. However, Engelhardt rejected this assertion, stating that while the deprivation of clean water and accurate health information was serious, it did not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right. “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing,” Engelhardt noted, adding that there is no constitutional mandate for officials to provide truthful information during a public health emergency.
The ruling stands in contrast to legal frameworks in other regions. At least nine U.S. states, including New York and Massachusetts, have enshrined a right to clean water in their state constitutions. Internationally, nations such as Uruguay and South Africa also protect access to clean water as a constitutional right.
Jackson, which is over 80 percent Black and has a poverty rate more than double the national average, has faced a prolonged water crisis requiring significant infrastructure upgrades. As early as 2015, the Mississippi State Department of Health detected elevated lead levels but reportedly kept the findings secret from the public for six months. The city also relied on boil-water notices, a measure that reduces bacterial threats but can inadvertently increase lead concentrations in the water supply.
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