Overview
- The en banc Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal of Sterling v. City of Jackson by a 10-5 vote, holding there is no clearly established Fourteenth Amendment right to clean drinking water or to truthful information from public officials.
- The ruling, written by Judge Kurt Engelhardt and issued Sept. 4, rejects plaintiffs’ claims that city officials knowingly let lead enter Jackson’s system and misled residents and directs them to tort suits and state or regulatory remedies.
- Judge Catharina Haynes wrote a five-judge dissent saying dismissal was premature and that the plaintiffs deserved at least discovery to develop evidence similar to claims from the Flint water crisis.
- The court acknowledged a direct conflict with Sixth Circuit precedent (notably Guertin v. Michigan), creating a circuit split that legal experts say could lead to Supreme Court review.
- The dispute grows out of Mississippi State Department of Health testing from roughly 2010–2013 showing rising lead levels in Jackson, a majority-Black, high-poverty city, and the ruling leaves unresolved the practical fixes of regulator enforcement, infrastructure investment, and state-law claims needed to address public-health harms.