(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a shameless twit.
That started in a district court,
And ended with a crushing 59-page ruling granting a preliminary injunction based upon extensive evidence of likelihood of success on the merits.
That last line got away from me, but you get the idea.
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Well, we said that Florida’s Ron DeSantis would get a blistering comeuppance for trying to mess with the cruise industry and, ahoy, litigation iceberg off the starboard bow! The nitwit governor tried to impose criminal fines on cruise lines asking passengers for vaccine confirmation — something the cruise lines very much would like to have before accidentally turning the buffet line into a smorgasbord of lung failure. With a whole mess of cruises docking in Florida, he thought he had the perfect plan.
Unfortunately, Quinn Emanuel had other thoughts. The firm, representing Norwegian Cruise Lines, filed suit seeking a preliminary injunction against the law and got it in a ruling from Judge Kathleen M. Williams, in the most crushing victory Norway’s secured since the Second Karl Gustav War. If you, like me, thought the most compelling argument in Norwegian’s favor was the preemption claim — considering the federal government has already issued guidelines for cruise lines traveling from U.S. ports to international waters — the judge didn’t even reach that one.
Because Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits on their First Amendment and dormant Commerce Clause claims, the Court need not address the Preemption claim at this stage. Nevertheless, the Court notes that Plaintiffs have raised compelling arguments as to why the Statute is conflict preempted by the CDC’s guidelines.
The First Amendment claim pegged the vaccine proof ban as a content-based restriction to the extent the cruises could require almost any other form of proof of COVID safety, such as an antibody test or forcing passengers to be tested repeatedly throughout their vacation, rendering the whole thing a substantively empty attempt to discriminate against the “v-word.” Which is vaccine in this case instead of venereal, which is what most singles cruises embarking from Miami have to worry about.
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The dormant commerce clause claim — aside from forcing everyone to reopen their Con Law outline as a refresher — called out Florida for trying to screw around with the orderly function of interstate commerce when it put criminal penalties on cruises that, by design, don’t limit operations to Florida.
At that point, the court decided to let the preemption claim sit even though the only defense Florida offered to the fact that the federal government was very much in this space was, “but, uh, we don’t think they should be?” Alas, with Florida already appealing the legality of the CDC guidelines in a different matter — with the 11th Circuit holding up the guidelines pending Supreme Court action — digging into the preemption question just created an unnecessary mess when DeSantis had no legal basis for this law in any case.
Because remember, DeSantis is trying to get the CDC rules struck down for the good of the cruise industry…
“I’m glad to see the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reverse its prior decision and free the cruise lines from unlawful CDC mandates, which effectively mothballed the industry for more than a year,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.
You know… the cruise industry that is actively fighting DeSantis on this very question. But DeSantis is just Cal Hockley to the cruise industry’s Rose, telling them that he knows best for them even if it means killing everyone they care about.
But who cares about winning and losing, it’s all about wasting a court’s time on a sideshow instead of putting any effort into stopping an out-of-control pandemic.
Judge says Norwegian Cruise can require vaccination proof, despite DeSantis ban [Washington Post]
Earlier: Quinn Emanuel Delivers The ‘Find Out’ To Ron DeSantis’s ‘F Around’
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.