Supreme Court sides with military in Vandenberg protest case

[jsr]

Source: Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ruled Wednesday that military commanders have broad power to keep protesters off of bases, including the public roads that pass through them.

The decision upholds the prosecution of a veteran peace activist from Santa Barbara who repeatedly returned to protest on a highway outside Vandenberg Air Force Base, even after he had been ordered to stay away.

John Dennis Apel had been barred from Vandenberg in 2003 after he threw blood on a base sign. But he returned repeatedly in the years after to protest inside a designated protest zone along Highway 1.

Officers warned him he was violating the order to stay away, and in 2010, he was escorted away and prosecuted for violating the order. A magistrate convicted him and ordered him to pay $355 in fines and fees.





Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-supreme-court-military-protester-20140226,0,1016278.story

[mahannah]

1. Hard to say which is worse –

the military ordering protesters to stay away or the court unanimously siding with that call.

[geek tragedy]

2. note that the 1st amendment argument was NOT considered in this decision.

He noted that because the high court had not dealt with the 1st Amendment issue in the case, Apel was free to raise that point in a further appeal to the 9th Circuit.

[GeorgeGist]

3. Freedumb.

[happyslug]

4. Here is the actual Court Opinion

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-1038_6jgm.pdf