Federal Court Rules Jackson, Mississippi Residents Have No Constitutional Right to Clean Water
A federal court has ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to clean drinking water, upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by residents of Jackson, Mississippi. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision, stating that the right to bodily integrity, as protected by the Constitution, does not extend to access to clean water. Plaintiffs Priscilla Sterling, Raine Becker, Shawn Miller, and John Bennett initially filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that city officials knowingly allowed them to consume lead-contaminated water. Judge Kurt Engelhardt's opinion indicated skepticism that the right to not be harmed by lead-contaminated water falls within the scope of bodily integrity, citing a lack of historical tradition or Supreme Court precedent to support such a claim. This ruling comes despite allegations that testing between 2010 and 2013 by the Mississippi State Department of Health showed increasing lead levels in the city's water, and that the ... 
