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Q&A Of The Day – Florida’s Win Against the CDC Is Among The Most Consequential - Part 1
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry: Brian, I’d like your thoughts about the CDC cruise decision. I’m glad the state won the first round but isn’t the declaration of victory over the CDC premature? The ruling was only an injunction and case itself hasn’t been won. Also, won’t the uncertainty create problems for the cruise companies and for people who want to plan trips?
Bottom Line: You have a couple of valid points. First, that everything isn’t settled and second, that the cruise industry must work within a potentially fluid framework as mediation was ordered again and the order doesn’t take effect until July 18th. But here’s the thing. The much bigger thing. Yes, the ruling is preliminary, yes there’s an injection until July 18th before the CDC’s imposed rules go from being a mandate to “non-binding” and yes, there remain questions regarding another round of mediation with the CDC having until July 2nd to present new, constitutional, measures for the industry; however, the big picture is clear. An unelected body of scientists in Atlanta retain no constitutional authority to control industries our lives. As I brought you last Thursday, not only is the CDC’s no sail order unconstitutional – the unconstitutional actions expand far beyond our ports.
Just last Tuesday, the CDC announced a ban of the importing of dogs from 100 countries over rabies concerns. While it’s unlikely many of us would blink, after all who wants to import potentially rabid dogs...? Under what authority? And just how pervasive will the CDC’s use of executive authority become left unchecked? Many have worried that the pandemic would create bodies of officials who are reluctant to give up the unprecedented executive authority they’ve exercised over our lives during the pandemic. While our attention has largely been focused on elected officials, ironically the biggest abuses have occurred with those who are unelected. In Judge Merryday’s ruling, this was noted: This order finds that Florida is highly likely to prevail on the merits of the claim that CDC’s conditional sailing order and the implementing orders exceed the authority delegated to CDC.
One of the challenges with a government agency’s abuse of power is that the punitive and unconstitutional actions are immediate and require legal challenges in the courts, such as this case to end them. Consider, that this ruling indicates the CDC never had any authority to issue a no sail order in the first place and yet 15 months later here we are. The cruise industry may have chosen not to sail for a period during the pandemic but that was always their decision to make. It’s chilling to think that a body of unelected scientists in Atlanta unconstitutionally shuttered a major industry for 15 months.
I’ll pick up there in the second part of today’s Q&A.