Supreme Court strikes down Stolen Valor law

AP Photo

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a federal law making it a crime to lie about receiving the Medal of Honor and other prized military awards, with justices branding the false claim "contemptible" but nonetheless protected by the First Amendment.

The court voted 6-3 in favor of Xavier Alvarez, a former local elected official in California who falsely said he was a decorated war veteran and had pleaded guilty to violating the 2006 law, known as the Stolen Valor Act. The law, enacted when the U.S. was at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, was aimed at people making phony claims of heroism in battle.

The ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, ordered that the conviction be thrown out.

"Though few might find respondent's statements anything but contemptible, his right to make those statements is protected by the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech and expression. The Stolen Valor Act infringes upon speech protected by the First Amendment," Kennedy said.

The high court has in recent years rejected limits on speech. The justices struck down a federal ban on videos showing graphic violence against animals and rejected a state law intended to keep violent video games away from children. The court also turned aside the attempt by the father of a dead Marine to sue fundamentalist church members who staged a mocking protest at his son's funeral. In 1989, the court said the Constitution protects the burning of the American flag.

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented in the Alvarez case.

"These lies have no value in and of themselves, and proscribing them does not chill any valuable speech," Alito said. "By holding that the First Amendment nevertheless shields these lies, the court breaks sharply from a long line of cases recognizing that the right to free speech does not protect false statements that inflict real harm and serve no legitimate interest."

Alvarez made his claims by way of introducing himself as an elected member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Pomona, Calif. There is nothing to suggest that he received anything in exchange or that listeners especially believed him.

Should lying about military medals be a crime?

The government had defended the law as necessary to punish impostors to protect the integrity of military medals. B.G. "Jug" Burkett, the Vietnam veteran whose 1998 book, "Stolen Valor," inspired the law, said he was disappointed with the ruling.

"It kind of blows my mind," Burkett said. "The Medal of Honor! The vast majority of the people who were awarded that were killed in action in the service of their country, and we can't protect that decoration from disrespect?"

But Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan said in a separate opinion that there were ways for the government to stop liars "in less restrictive ways." One possibility would be to "insist upon a showing that the false statement caused a specific harm or at least was material, or focus its coverage on lies most likely to be harmful or on contexts where such lies are most likely to cause harm," Breyer said.

Civil liberties groups, writers, publishers and news media outlets, including The Associated Press, told the justices they worried that the law, and especially the administration's defense of it, could lead to more attempts by government to regulate speech.

Then-Gen. George Washington established military decorations in 1782, seven years before he was elected as the first president. Washington also prescribed severe military punishment for soldiers who purported to be medal winners but weren't.

It long has been a federal crime to wear unearned medals, but mere claims of being decorated were beyond the reach of law enforcement. The Stolen Valor Act aimed to solve that problem, and won significant support in Congress during a time of war.

Alvarez's lawyers challenged the law by acknowledging their client's lies, but also insisting that they harmed no one.

"Statutes suppressing or restricting speech must be judged by the sometimes inconvenient principles of the First Amendment," Kennedy said. "By this measure, the statutory provisions under which respondent was convicted must be held invalid, and his conviction must be set aside."

Alvarez's original federal public defender, Brianna Fuller, said in an email that they were pleased with the decision. While we have utmost respect for our men and women in uniform, we've always believed that we honor them best by protecting the `precepts of the Constitution for which they fought,' as Justice Kennedy said in this morning's opinion," Fuller said.

In February, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reported that Congress, anticipating the Stolen Valor Act might be struck down, was already working on a replacement bill that would make it a crime if you lie about a military award for the purpose of earning a profit.

To see Reid's report, click on the video at the left.

[e3orbelow]

This is sickening. The supreme court has failed once again to protect the people that protect them. I earned the right to wear the uniform and veterans earned the awards they got. Now Jody can just walk around wearing a set of dress blues with the medal of honor around his neck. Absolutely disgusting.

Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps

[audemus]

We don't need a law protecting us from the B.S.ers....most of us can spot 'em a mile away.

[frankblank]

If you tell a girl or a guy in a bar that you have the Medal of Honor or the DFC, or the Super Hero award, that should be okay. But if you claim military honors in order to get money, get a job, or get political office, it seems to me there should be some sort of criminal penalty involved. NOT civil or business fraud, but some real, record-altering criminal penalty. It's not quite the same as lying on your resume about a college degree or the length of time you held a job at Cheetum Securities. That's just fair play; after all your prospective employer is probably (92% probability) lying to you.

We know that Fox news has already won in a lower court on the claim that lying is A-okay. But still... our society has progressed so far down the road called Liars Highway, where liars earn tens of millions of dollars with no more risk than a lecture from a brown-tongued senator, where the mainstream media accepts lies without even a wink, where the non-mainstream media would go out of business if not for lies - it's a little sickening. I'm no fan of the military - it has it's own very long and very deep tradition of lies - very long and very deep - but it nevertheless seems that falsely claiming official honors for courage in the face of danger ought to get you some kind of slap in the face.

[Renegade.Rivers]

As a former member of the armed forces, and a Vietnam veteran, I can't count the number of times I have herd all the lies by those who claimed to be in Vietnam and never touched the coast of Vietnam let alone went through one of the replacement companies. Of course, it only takes a couple of questions to separate the wheat from the chaff.

However, I personally don't care what the liars say. For the most part a large majority of Americans make a living off of lying anyway, including thieves, con-men and liars obviously, but then you have bankers, insurance agents, used car salesman and their ilk, lawyers, and of course the professional politicians, along with the mainstream media script writers.

I however do believe in karma, because I have seen it come back to haunt those who have violated the laws of nature and mankind again and again. Moreover I believe that you get out of life what you put into it. Unfortunately, there are plainly a lot of people who are taking a lot more out of this life than they are or have ever put into it, and when it is all said and done they will have their price to pay, and I do not include the sick, the infirm, the disabled or those suffering from terminal conditions in this statement.

Because no matter how you look at it, a scum back is and will always be a scum bag unless he or she wakes up and changes their ways.

[frankblank]

Your mention of the mainstream media as part of the dishonest by nature class would suggest you believe what you're told by the stupid, conspiracy theory media and by Mitt Romney, a man of constant, compulsive dishonesty.

Could any of that possibly be true?

[ludvig1-2009]

So I guess it's safe to say I was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I was worried there for a while.

[booker59]

If you're able to posthumously say anything at all I think you deserve a medal.

[scottyusa123]

The SCOTUS needs to be elected and/or have term limits. Corporations are people and now Obamacare is constitutional because it is just a tax which Obama is now disputing since he promised no new taxes on the middle class. This is a big hit on them. The present SCOTUS seems to be getting senile. Another goodie example was their idiotic ruling on the Eminent Domain case in New London CT. The SCOTUS allowed the town to buy everyone out and raze their houses for a private entity. The neighborhood sits empty to this day.

[formerlyluvnut]

by deoppressoliber1964 June 28, 2012 5:04 PM EDT
Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.

Next stupid question.
------------------------------------------------

Some people just don't grasp the military tradition.

[formerlyluvnut]

by elliesamericana June 28, 2012 3:21 PM EDT
Right or wrong, I have seen this happen. While at Walter Reed I got a retired field grade officer as a patient. He wore a green beret with a colonel's eagle rank. He also wore a chest full of miniature medals on his civilian jacket. Old & long retired he relived his life and gave it value thru reminising his 28 years of service. He introduced himself to me as "Colonel" but I saw his patient stamp plate said "Lieutenant Colonel." I finally had occasion to talk with his ex-wife on the telephone and asked with diplomacy if he was a full Colonel or a Lieutenant Colonel. She affirmed my suspicion that he was the lower rank. Some of his medals were likely bogus also I would guess. I never confronted nor reported. He was old and harming no one. His self worth rested on a fantasy career that he thought was larger than it was. The irony is that it was good enough without embellishment. Respectfully, retired US Army Medical Officer.
--------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant Colonol Vs full bird Colonol.....both are referred to as "Colonol". I would'nt hang the guy for that.

[formerlyluvnut]

"Colonel"----sorry.

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

Per the Army Doc's statement he did not hang him--actually just let it slide. He simply noted that he was giving the impression he was a full Colonel by wearing the full Colonel rank insignia on his beret. That in itself was a misrepresentation and following that, the man introduced himself as "Colonel." If he had not been wearing the eagle on his beret, his introducing himself as a Colonel would not have been an issue.

[TJphoto]

I wear a military cap with an Airborne Flash. I took off the wings and the Ranger Tab. To many idiots coming up to me telling me they were with the rangers too. I can trick 90% of them by asking "Which Ranger School did you go to, Fort Ord or Fort Polk"? It's pathetic. Earned, not awarded, at Fort Benning Georgia.

[Nocults]

Why do you wear insignia when you are no longer in service???????

[TJphoto]

Because I Earned It!!!

[bobnjersey]

[Congress is already working on a replacement that would make it a crime if you lie about a military award for the purpose of earning a profit ... And, Reid noted, any piece of legislation intended to protect military heroes flies through Congress.]
-----------------------------
yes ... let it fly ... even it it won't pass constitutional muster.

as long as they can wave the flag and sing kumbaya ... it's good to go.

[reality_sanity]

I believe the FOR PROFIT motive makes the deception a form of fraud that should be found constitutional. Some unconstitutional provisions can be change sometimes even slightly to make them constitutional.