A federal judge has blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from enforcing its COVID-19 safety guidelines for cruise ships operating out of Florida ports, representing a victory for the state in its litigation against the CDC.
Florida filed suit in the Middle District of Florida over the CDC’s conditional sailing order, which provided a framework for the cruise industry to reopen as more and more Americans are vaccinated for COVID-19. Florida officials argued that the CDC had exceeded its constitutional authority by mandating the new rules, and Judge Steven Merryday concluded that the state was likely to prevail on the merits of its legal arguments.
“Because of (1) Florida’s probability of success on the merits, (2) the imminent threat of irreparable (economic) injury to Florida, (3) the comparative injury depending on whether an injunction issues and (4) the imminent and material threat to the public interest, Florida’s motion for preliminary injunction is granted,” Merryday said in his 124-page opinion.
In turn, the CDC will be prevented from enforcing its conditional sailing order for ships arriving or departing in Florida ports, although the injunction won’t take effect until July 18, the opinion states. At that point, the order will amount to non-binding CDC guidance – the type that commonly applies to other industries, such as airlines and hotels.
“The CDC has been wrong all along, and they knew it,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a prepared statement last week. “The CDC and the Biden administration concocted a plan to sink the cruise industry, hiding behind bureaucratic delay and lawsuits. Today, we are securing this victory for Florida families, for the cruise industry and for every state that wants to preserve its rights in the face of unprecedented federal overreach.”
Complicating plans for the cruise lines’ reopening as the effects of the pandemic wind down is a new Florida law that bans businesses from requiring that their customers show proof of vaccination as a condition for service.
A Miami maritime attorney, James Walker, said he was surprised by the federal judge’s ruling, noting that the CDC, and not states, has been the overseer of health and safety issues arising from cruise ships operating in and out of U.S. ports.
“To conclude the CDC overstepped their jurisdiction and authority by entering the initial sailing orders during a pandemic is rather bewildering to me,” Walker told the Florida Record.
Some cruise lines have been trying to comply with Florida’s laws and executive orders by urging all passengers to get vaccinated while making provisions to allow unvaccinated passengers to board ships under much more restrictive rules governing their activities.
“I don’t know how that’s going to work out,” Walker said.
The federal government is likely to appeal the June 18 ruling, but it’s uncertain how the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals would rule in this case, he said.
Future civil lawsuits brought by passengers who contract COVID-19 on cruise ships would face an uphill fight because they have been warned repeatedly about the risks of catching the virus on cruise ships, according to Walker.