A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have received a personal medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, an appeals court has ruled in California.
The decision involved the case of Xavier Alvarez of Pomona, Calif., a water district board member who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor. Alvarez was indicted in 2007 and he pleaded guilty on condition that he be allowed to appeal on his First Amendment right. He was sentenced under the Stolen Valor Act to more than 400 hours of community service at a veteran’s hospital and fined $5,000.
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him in a 2-1 decision agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there’s no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there’s no compelling reason for the government to ban lies.
Nothing is sacred with the U.S. courts any more.
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The hideousness of this decision is that it places the “right to lie” above all else, which has never been what the First Amendment was supposed to protect. Liars are not a minority with unpopular opinions who need constituional protection. They’re liars.
That said: When you look at the people who claim false medals and experiences egregiously — and I don’t mean just some jerk getting a little carried away in a barroom or trying ot impress a woman — you find they fall into two categories. One are outright frauds who seek to benefit financially or professionally; there are other laws to deal with them. The second kind are people who clearly aren’t playing with a full deck. Most of them need psychiatric care, or maybe just a good ass-chewing, not prison.
Still, society is harmed when people are authorized to lie about anything.
PS. Your post on “when was the last time the Marines did an amphibious landing” made a valid point. Another way to get at the larger issue — when was the last time the U.S. Navy fired a torpedo at an enemy ship?
That we know of.
Semper fi from the Negev.
PG