From WIRED · Sophie Hurwitz · · 1m 30s
A court says clean water isn't a right
The Fifth Circuit tossed a lead poisoning lawsuit from Jackson, Mississippi, ruling the Constitution promises no safe tap water.
In brief
The Fifth Circuit tossed a lead poisoning lawsuit from Jackson, Mississippi, ruling the Constitution promises no safe tap water. Federal law gives you no constitutional claim to safe drinking water. That protection exists only where a state or country wrote it down. Originally reported by WIRED.
The ruling
On Friday the Fifth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a suit against Jackson, Mississippi, which claimed the city knowingly let residents drink lead-contaminated water.
No deeply rooted right
Trump-appointed judge Kurt Engelhardt called the harm grievous but not constitutional. He also found no right to truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.
“The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing”
Other places disagree
At least nine US states and more than a dozen countries protect clean water by law. Massachusetts has since 1972, New York added it in 2021, and Uruguay and South Africa wrote it into their constitutions.
“each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment”
Six months of silence
State health officials found elevated lead in 2015 and said nothing for six months. EPA testing in 2020 turned up leaks, corrosion, and high lead across the system.
“persistent and concerning violations”
Who drank it
Jackson is over 80 percent Black with double the national poverty rate, and a quarter of residents are children. Plaintiff Priscilla Sterling says several of her kids now have lead poisoning.
The rules are loosening
The same day as the ruling, Trump's EPA put out a supplemental rule further weakening the Clean Water Act, which watchdogs condemned within hours.
“If we don't protect our streams and wetlands, the cost of dirtier drinking water and increased flooding will flow downstream”
Here's the gist
Federal law gives you no constitutional claim to safe drinking water. That protection exists only where a state or country wrote it down.
