A week ago, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit against Jackson, Mississippi, which alleged that the city knowingly let residents drink lead-contaminated water, violating their right to bodily integrity and accurate information from the government. Kurt Engelhardt, a judge appointed by President Donald Trump, thumbed his nose at that reasoning, ruling “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing.” He added, “These deprivations, while grievous, do not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.”
A lot has happened in the past week, from assaults on voting rights to a lot of arguing about different maps to the president apparently offering $5,000 bribes to voters. But this ruling should get a lot more attention, especially Engelhardt’s bit about there being no “constitutional right to truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.”
