Trump-Appointed Judge Leads Ruling That US Constitution Offers No Right To Clean Water or Truthful Health-Crisis Information

A federal appeals court has ruled that the US Constitution does not guarantee Americans a right to clean drinking water, dealing a final blow to Jackson, Mississippi, residents who spent four years fighting to hold the city accountable over alleged lead contamination.

The Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed the dismissal of the lawsuit on Friday, September 4, 2026, replacing a 2025 panel decision that had revived the residents' claims. The Fifth Circuit later vacated that decision and agreed to rehear the case en banc. The ruling was authored by Judge Kurt Engelhardt, a Donald Trump appointee.

The Court's Reasoning on the 14th Amendment

Engelhardt wrote that 'the Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing', even where the alleged conduct was serious.

The court found that the plaintiffs had not established a constitutional right to be free from exposure to contaminated water or a right to truthful information from public officials about contaminants in municipally supplied drinking water.

The en banc majority rejected the residents' argument that they had a constitutional right to accurate information from city officials about the water's safety. The court ruled that the alleged deprivation did not infringe a sufficiently established constitutional right.

The Allegations Against Jackson

The lawsuit was first filed in 2022 by Jackson residents Priscilla Sterling, Raine Becker, Shawn Miller and John Bennett. They alleged the city's actions and failures allowed lead to enter the drinking-water supply, and that officials later misrepresented the water as safe to drink.

The claims pointed to testing data from the Mississippi State Department of Health. A district court dismissed the lawsuit before a Fifth Circuit panel revived parts of the residents' claims in 2025. The full court later vacated that decision and reheard the case en banc.

Jackson's Water Crisis and System Failures

Jackson's water system has faced repeated breakdowns in recent years, including a 2022 crisis in which failures at the city's O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant caused a major loss of water pressure and left many residents without reliable access to safe tap water.

The Justice Department separately filed a civil complaint against the city that year over alleged violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The city has disputed the residents' claims in court filings. The Fifth Circuit's majority opinion stated that the court would 'not expand the 14th Amendment' to cover the residents' claims.

The Fifth Circuit Precedent and What Remains for Jackson Residents

The ruling sets binding precedent across the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, meaning similar lawsuits based on the same constitutional theories are now unlikely to succeed in federal courts within the circuit.

The decision does not eliminate other potential remedies.

Residents affected by contaminated water may still pursue applicable state-law claims, regulatory complaints, legislation or federal statutory claims such as those under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Clean-water and environmental rights are recognised in the constitutions of some US states, while the United Nations recognised a human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation in 2010.

United Nations legal protections therefore vary considerably between jurisdictions.

For residents in Jackson and similar cities, future disputes over water safety may be fought through state courts, legislation, regulatory processes or federal statutes rather than the specific constitutional claims rejected by the Fifth Circuit.