( CNN ) -- The commander of a military base has broad jurisdiction over the facility , including public roads and a special protest zone located on it , the Supreme Court decided Wednesday . The justices unanimously ruled against Dennis Apel , a longtime critic of U.S. military policy who for 17 years has protested around Vandenberg Air Force Base in California . The court 's reading of federal law `` reaches all property within the defined boundaries of a military place that is under the command of a military officer , '' said Chief Justice John Roberts . The power to secure portions of the base more tightly than others does `` not change when the commander invites the public to use a portion of the base for a road , a school , a bus stop , or a protest area , especially when the commander reserves authority to protect military property by , among other things , excluding vandals and trespassers . '' Apel 's message of peace and the conflict it has created with Obama administration officials was at the heart of this free speech and boundary dispute . At issue was whether someone previously barred from a military base may be convicted under federal law for later `` peacefully protesting '' on a public road easement along the enclosed high-security facility . The appeal presented a fact-specific inquiry into such issues as `` concurrent '' government jurisdiction , public forums , and the limits of `` exclusive control '' asserted by the military . While the court 's ruling was a temporary setback for Apel , it did not address his larger contention that the federal law in question was unconstitutional . That issue will continue to percolate in the lower federal courts , and may yet give the 63-year-old man a right to return to Vandenberg , where location is integral to his message . Apel and wife , Tensie Hernandez-Apel , founded Beatitude Catholic Worker House in Guadalupe , California , about a half-hour away from the base , which is along the Pacific Ocean , northwest of Santa Barbara . The Vandenberg high-tech facility launches military satellites , operates aeronautical and space surveillance missions , and tests a variety of sophisticated weapons systems , including intercontinental ballistic missiles . Running through its eastern boundary are state Highways 1 and 246 , open to the traveling public . The federal government owns and operates the base , but the state and county have held a `` use easement '' for more than a half-century , and they maintain the roads . Concurrent jurisdiction gives a measure of control of the narrow strip of land to all three entities . The Apels and their supporters from Pacific Life Community , a group that opposes nuclear weapons , had conducted monthly peace vigils in a special open `` protest zone '' created along the Pacific Coast Highway bisecting the base . A special green line is designed to mark an off-limits area . Vandenberg 's commanding officer in 2003 issued a `` barment order '' against Dennis Apel after he was arrested for trespassing and vandalism , including throwing blood on a base sign . A second `` bar letter '' was given four years later , after another trespassing incident . In 2010 , with the ban still in effect , Apel again entered the protest zone on repeated occasions , was told to leave , and was then escorted off the property . He says he has been arrested about 15 times . He sought to block the misdemeanor counts on free speech and other legal grounds . A federal appeals court eventually ruled in his favor , saying the special protest zone was not an area under the military 's `` exclusive right of possession . '' The Justice Department then asked the Supreme Court to intervene , which has now ruled in the government 's favor . At the December oral argument and in its subsequent written ruling , the court rebuffed efforts by Apel and his attorneys to make this a predominately First Amendment case , and in effect limit a military commander 's discretion . `` We decline Apel 's invitation to require civilian judges to examine U. S. military sites around the world , parcel by parcel , to determine which have roads , which have fences , and which have a sufficiently important , persistent military purpose , '' said Roberts . `` The use-it-or-lose-it rule that Apel proposes would frustrate the administration of military facilities and raise difficult questions for judges , who are not expert in military operations . And it would discourage commanders from opening portions of their bases for the convenience of the public , '' he said . But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , while agreeing the base commander had authority to control any portion of the base within its borders , nevertheless suggested Apel 's broader constitutional claims over his removal order may have merit . `` It is questionable whether Apel 's ouster from the protest area can withstand constitutional review , '' she said . `` The court has properly reserved that issue for consideration on remand , '' meaning Apel may yet get another opportunity before the nation 's highest court someday . As for Apel , he told CNN his fight will continue . `` They 're denying my right to dissent on their base , '' he said . `` They 're systematically trying to keep me out there , but I 'm not going away . '' The case is U.S. v. Apel ( 12-1038 ) .
Supreme Court rules military has broad jurisdiction over public spaces on bases . The justices unanimously rule against a critic of U.S. military policy . That issue will continue to percolate in the lower federal courts .