Could The Conditional Sailing Order Dispute Between the CDC and Florida Head to the Supreme Court?

Cruise Hive ^ | July 21, 2021 | Robert McGillivray

[Capt. Tom]

Cruise Hive Cruise NewsPorts Could The Conditional Sailing Order Dispute Between the CDC and Florida Head to the Supreme Court? The ongoing dispute between Florida and the CDC over the Conditional Sailing Order is far from over and could even go to the Supreme Court.

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The hold on a ruling that would see the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order reduced to a recommendation has not taken the fight out of Governor DeSantis of Florida. In a reaction this week, DeSantis says he is willing to go to the Supreme Court if necessary.

The main issue the Governor sees with the CDC’s strict measures governing the cruise industry is the question: “Can you just have one agency and the government, without Congress ever passing a law, just basically shutting down an industry?”

Florida is Not Backing Down Although a recent hold by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals on the Conditional Sail Order ruling from Florida’s US District Judge Steven Merryday only adds time for the appeals court to review the case, Governor DeSantis is ready to fight a possible unfavorable ruling for Florida.

While he addressed the issue during a press conference, the Governor said he would be reviewing the legal options at hand and pursue the issue either at the appeals court or even the US Supreme Court. Something he is confident the State of Florida would win as The Hill reports:

“I think that most courts at this point have had their limit with the CDC issuing these dictates without a firm statutory basis. So I’m confident that we’d win on the merits at the full 11th Circuit. Honestly, I’m confident we’d win in the US Supreme Court.”

Florida’s Governor added that he does not think this is just about the cruise industry. Although the cruise lines are of vital importance to many residents in the state, DeSantis believes the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order raised the question of whether one agency can legally stop an entire industry;

“One of the reasons why we did it was not just because it’s an important industry for our state. 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.”

The legal battle comes when Florida seems to be in a conflicting time, on the one hand fighting the CDC over the CSO; on the other hand, the state is facing pushback from the cruise lines.

Not Everyone Agrees

While the consensus is that the CDC waited too long to allow the cruise industry to restart, not everyone is on board doing away with the CSO. Norwegian Cruise Line holdings recently brought a lawsuit against Florida’s state surgeon general, stating the proof of vaccination ban would prevent the cruise line from operating safely:

“One anomalous, misguided intrusion threatens to spoil NCLH’s careful planning and force it to cancel or hobble upcoming cruises, thereby imperiling and impairing passengers’ experiences and inflicting irreparable harm of vast dimensions.”

Within his state, the Governor is also facing criticisms, one of which came from the Miami Herald earlier this week. The newspaper took aim at the administration when DeSantis vowed to fight COVID measures onboard cruise ships, saying the Governor had lost sight of the events that transpired before a cruise ship ban came into effect in March of 2020:

“Maybe DeSantis has been able to blot out those horrible days in 2020 when cruise ships with infected passengers were turned away from ports around the world as those on board suffered and died. Well, we haven’t. The Governor must have a funny definition of winning if it involves bringing more COVID to Florida. As for the CDC, well, it doesn’t sound to us as though the agency is the one issuing the dictates here.”

Whether or not the Miami Herald is correct in its statements, the fact of the matter is that cruise lines are operating from Miami despite the CSO, while even requiring guests to be fully vaccinated onboard Carnival Cruise Line. It seems then that Florida’s case against the CDC has moved on from being about the cruise industry and headed towards what it sees as a much larger issue.

[Capt. Tom]

Just what cruisers need, the Courts getting more involved.-Tom

[Capt. Tom]

I realize Cruise info is getting pretty intense now , and if you want on or of my Cruise ping list let me know.-Tom

[MayflowerMadam]

Please keep me on the cruise ping list.

I’m always looking for a glimmer of hope when it comes to freedom returning to us. We want to do another CA-HI-CA cruise one of these days.

[monkeyshine]

I’ll just throw this out there. Not cruise but travel related. I have a large group of longtime friends. Many of them took an overseas trip just this week to a resort. We were invited; and we went 2 years ago (last year nobody went anywhere) and many other times.

Well they are there now. Into their 3rd or 4th day of a 10 day trip their resort is closed immediately. Some previous guests of the resort who returned home tested positive and two of the staff also tested positive. All were vaccinated. So, they can still enjoy the locale but all the amenities they were expecting from food to bar to pools and beach access and day care/babysitting services and karaoke night and amateur night etc are cancelled.

Personally I say this should have been expected. The vaccines don’t promise you won’t catch or spread the virus they just supposedly reduce risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death. As we see with the Texas Democrats spreading the virus around DC where presumably everyone is also vaccinated - as long as they keep testing they are going to find a lot of positives. Even as Fauci said it is OK for vaccinated people to gather together indoors; it isn’t really going to slow contagion.

Which I gather is sort of the point. I believe TPTB expect to never get Covid-19 under control and that nearly everyone will get infected eventually. If there is a safe and good way to treat it or prevent deaths and severe illness great. IMO that doesn’t have to be via vaccines but so far that is really the only “government/media” approved way.

[Capt. Tom]

If there is a safe and good way to treat it or prevent deaths and severe illness great. IMO that doesn’t have to be via vaccines but so far that is really the only “government/media” approved way.

Just an anecdote. My unvaxed daughter told me this afternoon that her husband got vaccinated a few weeks ago. Immediately he had ear problems and finally went to the ear Doctor who told him after an examination, that the Doctor could not say it was caused by the vaccine but told him not to get the second vaccine shot. -Tom

[AC86UT89]

I’d like to be on the ping list please. I have several cruises upcoming latest his year, hoping for the best.

[entropy12]

Tom, from now on I expect every health problem will be blamed on the covid shots. Just like every death with covid is still blamed on death from covid.

I had ear aches galore in my younger years, long before China invented the covid virus. Just saying.