Fifth Circuit rules clean water is not a constitutional right

The en banc Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10–5 in Sterling v. City of Jackson that the United States Constitution does not guarantee a right to clean drinking water or truthful information from officials during a public health crisis. The decision affirms the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by four Jackson, Mississippi, residents who argued that the city’s failure to prevent lead from leaching into the municipal water system violated their Fourteenth Amendment right to bodily integrity.

Writing for the majority, Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt stated that the Constitution does not provide redress for every instance of governmental wrongdoing. The court applied a history-and-tradition test, concluding there is no established legal precedent to support reading such substantive due process rights into the Constitution. The ruling noted that while the deprivation of clean water may be “grievous,” it does not infringe upon a deeply rooted constitutional right.

The decision creates a legal distinction between municipal failures and constitutional violations. While the ruling limits constitutional claims, it does not preclude other legal avenues, such as tort suits, enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act, or federal receivership actions.