Fifth Circuit Rejects Jackson Clean Water Constitutional Claim

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed a 2022 lawsuit filed by several residents of Jackson, Mississippi, who alleged that contaminated drinking water violated their constitutional rights. The decision, issued on Friday, upheld a lower court’s earlier ruling that the federal Constitution does not guarantee a right to clean water. The appellate panel affirmed that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate a direct violation of any protected constitutional claim.

The lawsuit was brought by Jackson residents who argued that the city’s water supply, which had been found to contain harmful contaminants, infringed on their fundamental rights. The district court had dismissed the case for lack of a viable constitutional basis, and the Fifth Circuit agreed, citing precedent that the Constitution protects only specific rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment. The court noted that while state and local governments have obligations to provide safe water, those duties are not derived from federal constitutional guarantees.

The ruling leaves the Jackson residents without a federal remedy for the alleged water contamination, meaning any further action would need to be pursued under state or local law. The decision also clarifies the limits of federal constitutional protections in environmental and public‑health matters, reinforcing that clean water is not a constitutionally protected right.