Supreme Court Lets Flint Citizens Sue City and State Over Contaminated Water Crisis

The central legal argument is that citizens' right to "bodily integrity" was violated.

January 22, 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court decided this week to allow Flint, Michigan citizens to continue forward with a civil rights lawsuit against the city and government officials centered on the lead-contaminated water crisis.

The move effectively deads a pair of appeals from the city and state and local officials in response to a lower court ruling that also allowed the suit to proceed, Reutersreported on Tuesday.

The argument here, aside from the abject preposterousness of the shittiness required to fuck citizens up for life with tainted water, is that city and state officials violated Flint residents' constitutional right to "bodily integrity."

Previously, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that "any reasonable official" should have known that their actions represented what they deemed to be "conscience-shocking" behavior.

"Knowing the Flint River water was unsafe for public use, distributing it without taking steps to counter its problems, and assuring the public in the meantime that it was safe is conduct that would alert a reasonable person to the likelihood of personal liability," the court said, perEpoch Times.

Olympic gold medalist and Flint native Claressa Shields joined Speedy Morman for a Complex News special last month centered on the city's heartbreaking history. Addressing the water crisis, Shields recalled how she first felt disbelief upon learning of the contamination.

"And then, finally, some tests got done on the water and it was proven that lead was in the water and that it was affecting babies and kids and teenagers' minds and [some] people had died from the water. . . It became reality and—I think for myself and for others—just trust issues," Shields said at the time.