The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a free speech case brought by longtime Vandenberg Air Force Base protester Dennis Apel.
The Court issued a short statement this week, simply saying:
Dear Mr. Chemerinsky: The Court today entered the following order in the above-entitled case: The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Irvine School of Law and Apel's attorney for several years, says the denial to take the case now leaves legal questions regarding free speech rights.
"It was very disappointing," said Chemerinsky. "I think Mr. Apel presented a very strong First Amendment case that people should be able to protest on public areas of a military base, and it's particularly distressing because from the case that was before the Supreme Court last time, they didn't address the free speech/first amendment question—they didn't do so here either."
Meanwhile, reporter Nick Welsh at the Santa Barbara Independent tells KCBX that Dennis Apel believes the commanders at the base have reinstated his protest privileges, because Apel hasn't been arrested for protesting at the base in a long time.
A request to confirm that information with Vandenberg's Public Affairs office has not be answered.