Fifth Circuit upholds dismissal of Jackson water contamination lawsuit

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Jackson, Mississippi residents who alleged the city knowingly exposed them to lead-contaminated drinking water. The plaintiffs argued that the contamination and the city's alleged failure to provide truthful information violated their constitutional right to bodily integrity.

Writing for the court, Trump-appointed Judge Kurt Engelhardt acknowledged that the deprivation of clean water and accurate information was “grievous,” but stated that the Constitution does not provide redress for every instance of governmental wrongdoing. The court rejected the argument that the right to be free from lead-contaminated water falls under the constitutional right to bodily integrity, noting a lack of historical tradition to support such a claim.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, alleged that city officials misrepresented the safety of the water supply despite testing from the Mississippi State Department of Health showing lead levels increasing at an alarming rate between 2010 and 2013. The court concluded that the plaintiffs failed to establish a federal civil-rights remedy under the Fourteenth Amendment.