June 14, 2019
By Pete Williams
Washington — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (click here) on Friday denied a request from four Flint, Michigan officials who asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block lower court rulings that said they could be sued over lead contamination in the water supply.
Their motion was directed to Justice Sotomayor, who handles such appeals from that region. Without explanation, as is the usual practice, she denied their request.
The officials involved in the water crisis argued that they should be immune from a liability suit brought by a Flint woman, Shari Guertin, who said she and her minor daughter suffered injuries from drinking and bathing in water contaminated with lead. After a federal judge refused to throw the lawsuit out, the officials appealed.
A three-judge panel ruled against them in January, saying the officials "created the Flint Water environmental disaster and then intentionally attempted to cover up their grievous decision." The full Sixth Circuit declined last month to take the case, leaving the panel decision intact....
June 13, 2019
By the AP
Flint, Mich. (AP) — Michigan prosecutors (click here) dropped all criminal charges Thursday against eight people in the Flint water scandal and pledged to start the investigation from scratch. Officials said that since the election of a new attorney general, they have acquired a lot of new evidence that significantly expands of the scope of the investigation. They say the defendants, including Michigan's former health director, Nick Lyon, could be charged again....
A personal note: When the country first learned of the Flint Water Crisis I knew there would be a cover up of one kind or another. As the prosecutions rolled out it became obvious to me the efforts to achieve justice were being misdirected to those with the least power to have changed the course of the crisis.
That said, I also remember the first set of indictments brought the suicide of a man that worked in the water treatment plant. Realizing now these officials are being released from unlawful behavior with the potential for new indictments to be filed, I keep thinking that poor man who ended his life could have been proven to be the least liable for these tragedies and he might still be alive.
The Flint Water Crisis is not just about dirty water, it is about entire governance under Snyder that went badly wrong. People suffered and Governor Snyder did not care. He also did not care about those facing criminal charges so long as it did not touch him.
