CDC and State of Florida to Go to Mediation Over Cruise Ship Ban
Florida wants to see cruise ships return to the state. Now a federal judge in Tampa has ruled the civil case between the state of Florida and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the return of cruising will go to a mediator. That is what will decide when and how idled cruise ships can start sailing again.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the mediator was provided instructions by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday to hear the positions of both sides before June 1 and help come to an agreement outside the court system.
Florida’s lawsuit, filed April 8 in U.S. District Court in Tampa, names as defendants the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the agencies’ appointed leaders. The lawsuit claims that COVID-19 prevention guidelines for cruise ships are “arbitrary and capricious,” unconstitutional, and violate federal laws governing administrative procedures. The state later asked the court to immediately overturn CDC’s “conditional sail order” that has kept cruise lines from operating from U.S. ports pending a series of safety measures for passengers and crew.
The Florida attorney general’s office believes the CDC and its decision-makers “overstepped” their authority when imposing these restrictions.
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