A federal judge ruled Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s conditional sailing orders are harmful to the cruise industry and “likely constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to CDC.”
According to CNN, the state of Florida alleged that the CDC’s order exceeds the agency’s authority calling it “arbitrary and capricious” in issuing the conditional sailing order in a motion for a preliminary injunction.
The state of Florida claimed the CDC failed to recognize the prevalence of vaccines and the effectiveness of Covid-19 mitigation measures.
US District Judge Steven Merryday deemed that Florida is likely to succeed in the case. The injunction will stay in effect until 12:01 am ET on July 18, during which the CDC was prohibited from enforcing it against any cruise ship arriving in, within, or departing from any ports in Florida, the order stated. After that, the conditional sail order became a non-binding “consideration, recommendation or guideline.”
Judge Merryday gave the CDC until July 2 to propose a narrower injunction that allowed the ships to sail, and he ordered all parties to return to mediation.
