Florida s legal challenge to CDC cruise restrictions goes before judge Wednesday
Jordan Bowen reports
Beginning Wednesday, a U.S. District Judge will hear arguments in the case.
The attorney general is asking for a preliminary injunction against the restrictions that they say have kept the industry on lockdown for more than a year.
The fight to get Florida s cruise line industry back on course will soon play out in court. The CDC specifically has refused to put in place workable guidance to allow cruise ships to begin sailing again, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said.
Florida vaccine passport ban could mean trouble for cruises
Stung by a last-minute political maneuver that pushed a bill reversing Key Westâs limits on large cruise ships across the state legislative finish line, supporters of ship restrictions were licking their wounds Thursday morning and putting their last hopes on Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto the bill.
The odds of that happening, however, may be slim. Not only has DeSantis filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to force the agency to restore ship sailings in the United States, his political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, last month accepted 11 donations totaling $995,000 from Mark Walsh, owner of Pier B, which handles a majority of cruise ship traffic in Key West, according to a story in the Miami Herald this week. Walshâs company, Pier B Development Corp., had filed a lawsuit against Key West last year to stop ship and passenger limits referenda from being placed on the cityâs November ballot.
The Florida Legislature added a provision to a general transportation bill that would overturn Key West voters' attempts to limit cruise ship operations on the island.