Flint, Mich. officials (with state officials’ approval) switch city’s municipal water source in 2014 to save money, unleash public health disaster. Plaintiffs: And violated our right to bodily integrity. Officials: We get sovereign immunity, which doesn’t normally apply to cities, but our day-to-day operations had been taken over by the state, thus transforming the city into an arm of the state. Sixth Circuit: Nope. But some defendants get qualified immunity. Partial dissent: No court has ever recognized a Fourteenth Amendment right to bodily integrity. Everyone should get qualified immunity.
