The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Sept. 4 that Americans have no constitutional right to clean water under the legal theory pursued by four Jackson, Mississippi, residents, upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit that accused city officials of exposing families to lead-contaminated tap water.
The 10-5 decision, handed down by the full appeals court sitting en banc, found that the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause does not cover the injuries alleged by residents, who claimed the city’s actions and misleading statements about water safety left their families sick from lead exposure.
Judge Kurt Engelhardt, writing for the majority, said it was “undisputed that the Constitution does not guarantee clean water.” The court concluded that neither exposure to contaminated water caused by government mismanagement nor false assurances from officials amount to a historically recognized violation of bodily integrity.
Court says Americans have no right to demand clean water from officials
The case traces back to 2022, when the residents filed suit in federal court, months after a catastrophic system failure left roughly 150,000 people in Jackson without running water for days. A district judge dismissed the constitutional claims in 2024.
A federal appeals court approves the dismissal of a lawsuit against a Mississippi town over lead-contaminated water
They ruled the US Constitution does not guarantee a right to clean drinking water pic.twitter.com/c7oIyqjD3u
— Interesting AF (@interesting_aIl) September 5, 2026
A three-judge panel then revived the case in November 2025 and adopted a new legal theory allowing lawsuits when government actions worsen a danger. The full appeals court vacated that panel ruling in February and reheard the case.
The Fifth Circuit’s majority declined to follow a 2019 ruling from the Sixth Circuit involving the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, which allowed similar claims to proceed. The court said it was “not bound, nor persuaded” by that decision, known as Guertin v. Michigan, or by a related 2025 case from Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Case moved from district court loss to appellate win and back to defeat
Five judges dissented, arguing the majority defined the constitutional right too narrowly. Judge Catharina Haynes wrote that the residents had plausibly alleged officials worsened contamination and misled the public, and said the case deserved to proceed to discovery rather than being thrown out at the pleading stage.
The ruling applies only within the Fifth Circuit, covering Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and does not strike down the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which remains enforceable through a separate lawsuit the Justice Department filed against Jackson in 2022. Jackson Mayor John Horhn said the city welcomed the ruling and remained committed to residents’ health and safety.
It was not immediately clear whether the plaintiffs would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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