Biography
John D. Apel is a longtime Catholic Worker Movement activist who co-founded a Catholic Worker house in Guadalupe and became closely associated with anti-war vigils near Vandenberg Air Force Base. His activism has included repeated acts of civil disobedience in and around the base’s protest areas, resulting in multiple arrests and exclusion (“bar”) orders from the installation.
A key arrest in 2010—after he reentered a designated protest zone despite being barred—led to a federal conviction under the statute that criminalizes reentry to a military installation after an order not to return. The legal fight culminated in a 2014 Supreme Court of the United States ruling that the statute could be enforced on base land even when a public easement crosses the area, sending the case back for further proceedings.
