By Ron Hurtibise
From South Florida Sun Sentinel
Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to appeal a preliminary injunction allowing Norwegian Cruise Line to require passengers to show proof that they are vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Sunday, a federal judge granted Norwegian’s bid to require 100 percent vaccinations, saying its challenge of DeSantis’ vaccine passport law will likely prevail at trial.
Among other reasons, the passport ban violates First Amendment rights of free speech by barring businesses from requiring documentation of vaccination status but not from requiring customers to present other medical documents or respond to oral questions of whether they are vaccinated, the ruling said.
DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw released this statement from DeSantis’ office:
“We disagree with the judge’s legal reasoning and will be appealing to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. A prohibition on vaccine passports does not even implicate, let alone violate, anyone’s speech rights, and it furthers the substantial, local interest of preventing discrimination among customers based on private health information.”
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