DeSantis vows to appeal court decision that keeps CDC cruise rules in place
The state of Florida’s battle with the cruise industry is far from over.
Ten minutes before cruise safety regulations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were set to turn into recommendations for Florida cruises on Saturday at midnight, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit intervened to keep them in place in a 2-1 decision. Now Governor Ron DeSantis said Monday that the state plans to appeal that ruling to the full panel of appeals court judges in hopes of allowing cruises to operate from Florida ports free of CDC oversight.
The ruling is the latest in a series of whiplash-inducing court decisions as the cruise industry tries to regain consumer confidence. It reverses last month’s decision from U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday of the Middle District of Florida, that said the CDC did not sufficiently justify the need for its cruise safety regulations that are causing the state “economic harm.”
DeSantis said he is confident that the state would win its appeal to the full 11th Circuit.
“One of the reasons why we ... [sued the CDC] was not just it’s an important industry for our state,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Poinciana on Monday. “We’re committed to that, but it raises a bigger question. Can you just have one agency and the government, without Congress ever passing a law, just basically shutting down an industry? Maybe you don’t care about the cruise industry, but next time it might be your industry.”
Since late June, cruises have been operating from Florida ports under the CDC regulations that require companies to outfit their ships with COVID-19 tests, report test results to the agency and secure evacuation agreements with U.S. ports they plan to visit, among other things. Carnival Horizon and Freedom of the Seas are operating from PortMiami, and Celebrity Edge is operating from Port Everglades.
In its appeal to the 11th Circuit, the CDC argued that without its cruise regulations in place, there is a “substantial risk” that cruise ships will exacerbate the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.
The CDC’s rules about how the cruise industry restarts during the pandemic are well within the agency’s authority, said Larry Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization’s center on global health law. Gostin previously said DeSantis’ lawsuit against the CDC had little to no viability.
“Does CDC have the power to regulate a business to ensure those businesses are operating safely in international travel? The answer is unequivocally yes,” Gostin said.
Until recently, cruise companies remained on the sidelines of DeSantis’ lawsuit against the CDC, first filed in April. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings broke the silence last week when it urged the 11th Circuit keep the CDC’s regulations in place.
“Ironically, the only impediment to NCLH safely sailing as planned is currently posed by Florida, not CDC,” the company’s filing said.
In a separate lawsuit, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is suing Florida’s surgeon general Scott Rivkees, asking a federal judge in Miami to allow the company to require cruise passengers show proof of COVID-19 vaccination despite a recently passed state law that bars it from doing so. The company argues that the law violates its First Amendment right to freedom of speech and disrupts interstate commerce, traditionally regulated by Congress.
On Friday, lawyers for Florida requested that the case be transferred to the federal judge in Tampa who gave them a favorable ruling in their case against the CDC. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Aug. 6 in front of the federal judge in Miami.
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
