Cruising: Florida wins preliminary injunction against CDC rules

Written by Nick Blenkey
cruise ship setting out to sea

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A federal judge has granted Florida a preliminary injunction restraining the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and and Prevention from enforcing its rules on cruise ships in Florida’s ports.

Effective July 18, the order enjoins the CDC from “enforcing against a cruise ship arriving in, within, or departing from a port in Florida the conditional sailing order and the later measures (technical guidelines, manuals, and the like).”

However, in his ruling, U.S. District Court judge Steven Merryweather says that “ to further safeguard the public’s health while this action pends, CDC may propose not later than July 2, 2021, a narrower injunction both permitting cruise ships to sail timely and remaining within CDC’s authority as interpreted in this order. The motion for the proposed injunction must support the proposed terms with current scientific evidence and fully disclose—if unavailable to the public—scientific evidence, including methodology, raw data, analysis, and the like and the names and qualifications of the scientists participating in the study, modeling, or the like.”

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called the ruling “a victory for the hardworking Floridians whose livelihoods depend on the cruise industry. The federal government does not, nor should it ever, have the authority to single out and lock down an entire industry indefinitely. I am excited to see the cruise industry get sailing again, and proud to stand with Gov. Ron DeSantis against illegal federal overreach and draconian lockdown measures.”

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