Friday, May 22, 2026
Page 3
Ninth Circuit:
Judge Erred in Taking Over Case on Water Fluoridation
Panel Voids Order to EPA to Revise Guidelines on What Level of Chemical Is Safe to Add, Says ‘Party Presentation Principle’ Was Violated by Judicial ‘Commandeering’ of Case
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A District Court judge overstepped his authority in conducting a second bench trial on an issue already addressed at the initial trial, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday, vacating an order to the government to revamp its regulations which, it was determined, call for fluoride to be dumped in public water supplies at a level potentially injurious to children.
Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California violated the “party presentation principle” under which the parties decide how the issues are to be framed and what evidence is to be put forth, a three-judge panel said in a memorandum opinion.
Local governmental entities throughout the United States rely on guidelines promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in determining how much fluoride—intended to improve dental health—is to be added to water supplies. Food & Water Watch and others sued to establish that excessive amounts of the chemical have been authorized by the EPA, creating, according to recent studies, a prospect of neurotoxic effects on children.
Chen’s Ruling
On Sept. 24, 2024, Chen declared that “Plaintiffs have proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that water fluoridation at the level of 0.7 mg/L—the prescribed optimal level of fluoridation in the United Slates—presents an ‘unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation under the conditions of use.” He ordered that the EPA “initiate rulemaking” to remedy the problem.
The EPA appealed.
A three-judge panel—comprised of Circuit Judge Ronald M. Gould, Senior Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas, and District Court Judge Brian M. Morris of the District of Montana, sitting by designation—said yesterday:
“The district court abused its discretion after the first bench trial by commandeering the case.”
They wrote:
“The district court’s ‘takeover’ of the evidentiary presentation, in combination with its repeated refusal to respect the decisions made by the parties in the case, violated the party presentation principle and constitute an abuse of discretion.”
Applying Principle
Elaborating, the panel said:
“The district court abused its discretion when it refused to rule on the first trial record, despite the parties’ assertions that it should, and when it held the case in abeyance to wait for the completion of an additional study to which the parties had already stipulated not to present at trial. Plaintiffs argue that the party presentation principle only limits a court’s authority to raise new legal issues and does not limit a court’s authority to resolve the issues that the parties have raised. Plaintiffs suggest that no party presentation principle violation occurred because the district court never raised new legal issues and instead established its own procedure to resolve the case that the parties had shaped. EPA argues that the party presentation principle applies more broadly and limits a court’s ability to introduce new issues, of a legal or factual nature, to the proceedings. We agree with EPA’s position.”
Chen’s decision was vacated and the matter was remanded with a direction “to rule based solely on the first trial record.”
The case is Food & Water Watch v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 25-384.
Controversy Over Fluoridation
Controversy over whether fluoride should be added to public water supplies raged in the 1950s and 1960s, with the American Dental Society touting the benefit of preventing tooth decay and the far-right wing John Birch Society and others terming the plan a “Communist plot.”
More recently, controversy has arisen over the levels of fluoride being added to waters, with various health concerns expressed. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for an end to fluoridation of water, saying it creates risks, including children having lowered IQ scores.
The EPA said last year it is studying “new scientific information.”
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