Peake

Plaintiffs Steven R. Preminger and the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee appeal the district court’s dismissal, for lack of standing, of their First Amendment challenge to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (“VA”) denial of entry to one of their facilities for the purpose of registering voters. We now hold that Preminger has standing. Nonetheless, we affirm the judgment in favor of the VA because Plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the VA’s application of 38 C.F.R. § 1.218 (a)(14) (“the Regulation”) to them violated the First Amendment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The VA’s Menlo Park campus provides care for elderly, homeless, disabled, and psychologically impaired veterans. The veterans reside in numerous buildings on the campus, including Building 331, which provides skilled nursing care for up to 150 residents. Many of the residents have severe physical and mental health care needs.

Before his first visit to the campus, lawyer Scott Rafferty contacted VA officials and obtained permission to register veterans to vote. He later visited Building 331 but was denied access to patients. He contacted VA officials again, advising them of the problem he had…