Court rules residents of a US city don’t have a constitutional right to lead-free water

Filed 1h ago · Via Mongabay · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Gypsy Shoegazer No Voices

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: DFID - UK Department for International Development · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The full Fifth Circuit ruled against Jackson, Mississippi residents who alleged the city let lead into the water supply and then told them it was safe. Judge Kurt Engelhardt, a Trump appointee, wrote for the majority that the Constitution does not guarantee freedom from contaminated water or the right to accurate information from officials, reversing a panel that had let the claims proceed.

Nearly a quarter of Jackson's roughly 150,000 residents are children under 18, and plaintiffs say some have been diagnosed with lead poisoning requiring lifelong services. Dissenting Judge Catharina Haynes argued the 'state-created danger' doctrine, recognized by ten other federal appeals courts, should apply here; the majority instead directed residents toward tort claims and the ballot box.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Ten other appeals courts have found room in the Constitution to punish a government that poisons its own people and lies about it. This one found a technicality instead. Telling a parent whose kid has lead poisoning to go file paperwork or vote differently next cycle isn't justice, it's a shrug with a law degree.

Source: Read the original at Mongabay → Scored: Gypsy Shoegazer No Voices · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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