Oh, the drama. The ongoing soap opera that has engulfed Florida’s cruise industry had another plot twist late last night. A month ago, Governor Ron DeSantis crowed when a U.S. district judge in Tampa agreed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had overstepped its legal authority in creating its Covid-19 guidance for cruise ships.
But last night at 11:50 p.m., just 10 minutes before that ruling was about to take place, a federal appeals court issued a temporary stay while the CDC appeals the earlier decision.
That keeps the CDC’s Covid-19-related regulations regarding cruise ships in place—at least for now—in the state that is home to the three largest cruise ports in the United States.
“We are disappointed that the Obama and Clinton-appointed appellate judges found it appropriate to stay the trial court’s injunction and thus continue the CDC’s unlawful stronghold on an entire industry—costing Florida and its tourism industry hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, in an email. Steven Merryday, the U.S. District Judge who ruled in favor of DeSantis, was appointed by George H.W. Bush.
“While we remain confident in eventual success on the actual merits of this litigation, we are considering options for immediate appeal to reinstate the trial court’s injunction that enjoined the CDC’s No Sail Orders as unconstitutional and lacking congressional authority,” said Pushaw.
The long-running beef between Florida and the CDC is over DeSantis’s
much-hyped but unpopular law banning so-called vaccine passports, which has left cruise lines in the unenviable position of being prohibited from verifying the vaccination status of passengers sailing from Florida.
That law makes it impossible for cruise lines to follow CDC guidance. The agency says that cruise lines offering sailings on ships with paying passengers need to make sure 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated before setting sail.