The war may not be over, but at least one battle has been won.
On Friday, a Florida court delivered what can only be considered a victory to Florida governor Ron DeSantis who sued the U.S. CDC over the CDC’s Conditional Sail Orders that he said were ‘obstructing’ the cruise industry.
As CNN reports, Florida Judge Steven Merryday determined that the CDC’s CSO, "likely constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to CDC,” in other words, that they are overstepping their authority in regulating the cruise industry.
Florida had asked for a preliminary injunction to overturn the CSO, essentially to permit cruising to begin again in the state without any restrictions. The state has passed a law banning companies from requiring proof of vaccination, which flies in the face of efforts to restart cruising with vaccinated crew and guests.
The CDC had approved relaxed restrictions on fully-vaccinated cruises, and surveys show both the majority of cruisers - as well as Floridians themselves - approve cruising restarting with vaccine requirements.
As a result of Friday’s ruling, beginning 18JUL, the CDC’s CSO will be downgraded to just a non-binding "consideration, recommendation or guideline."
Some of the judge’s comments were scathing;
“Never has CDC (or a predecessor) detained a vessel for more than fifteen months; never has CDC implemented a widespread or industry-wide detention of a fleet of vessels in American waters; never has CDC condition pratique as extensively and burdensomely as the conditional sailing order; and never has CDC imposed restrictions that have summarily dismissed the effectiveness of state regulation and halted for an extended time an entire multi-billion dollar industry nationwide. In a word, never has CDC implemented measures as extensive, disabling and exclusive as those under review in this action.”
Cruise Industry News notes that Judge Merryday also cited a previous ruling stating: “When an agency claims to discover in a long-extant statute an unheralded power to regulate ‘a significant portion of the American economy,’ we typically greet its announcement with a measure of skepticism.”
Friday’s ruling is not the end of the story. As CNN reports, the judge gave the CDC until 02JUL to, “propose a narrower injunction that allowed the ships to sail, and he ordered the parties to return to mediation.”
