Federal appeals court says clean drinking water is not a constitutional right

( NewsNation ) — Clean drinking water is not a guaranteed right under the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit — in a 10-5 ruling — said the alleged contamination in Jackson, Miss., did not violate rights protected by the 14th Amendment.

“The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing,” Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt wrote.

The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by residents over the city’s lead-contaminated water system. The lawsuit, launched in 2022 by Priscilla Sterling, Raine Becker, Shawn Miller and John Bennett, argued that the city knowingly allowed residents to drink unsafe water.

The complaint against Jackson claimed that testing conducted by the state’s health department between 2010 and 2013 revealed increased levels of lead in the water.

“We are skeptical that the right to not be harmed by lead-contaminated water fits within the right to bodily integrity, and Plaintiffs point us to no historical tradition or Supreme Court precedent convincing us,” Engelhardt added .

The judge also noted that the city’s mismanagement, which residents blame for their lead exposure, falls outside the constitutional protection.

“It is undisputed that the Constitution does not guarantee clean water,” the court said.

It also found no constitutional right to truthful information from government officials during a public health crisis.