High Court Upholds Decision Reviving ‘Cancer Alley’ Lawsuit

The US Supreme Court won’t be picking up a Louisiana parish’s request to review a lower court decision that resurrects advocates’ discrimination lawsuit, according to an order issued Monday.

St. James Parish sought review of a ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in August, asking justices to determine whether the appeals panel applied a stringent enough standard when determining whether parish residents had standing to sue.

A federal district court in Louisiana quashed the lawsuit for lack of standing, but the Fifth Circuit found in April the organizations sufficiently alleged they were “racially classified and denied equal treatment.”

Community advocates, including Inclusive Louisiana and RISE St. James, sued parish officials in 2023 for allegedly using a discriminatory land use program to put high-emission facilities in predominately Black neighborhoods along part of an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River known as “Cancer Alley.”

Over 200 petrochemical and manufacturing facilities dot the corridor, and the Environmental Protection Agency has linked their emissions to long and short term illnesses in surrounding communities, as well as higher rates of cancer.

Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP represents the petitioners.

The case is St. James Parish v. Inclusive Louisiana, U.S., No. 25-195, Order 10/20/25.