Supreme Court to Take Up 'Stolen Valor Act'

The Supreme Court will decide whether a law making it a crime to lie about having received military medals is constitutional.

The justices said Monday they will consider the validity of the Stolen Valor Act, which passed Congress with overwhelming support in 2006. The federal appeals court in California struck down the law on free speech grounds and another appeals court in Colorado is considering a separate case.

The Obama administration is arguing that the law is reasonable because it only applies to instances in which the speaker intends to portray himself as a medal recipient. Previous high court rulings also have limited First Amendment protection for false statements.

The court almost always reviews lower court rulings that hold federal laws unconstitutional.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10 ... valor-act/

Is lying free speech? I guess so, politico's get away with it all the time.

"I will shut down Gitmo."
"No new taxes, read my lips."
"If we pass this spending bill, unemployment will go down."

If we locked up everyone who lied, there'd be no one left to run the country or post on this board.

Why should it be any more acceptable, or legal, to represent yourself falsely as a former decorated member of the armed services than it is to represent yourself falsely as a police officer, a doctor or a lawyer?

You mean as a FORMER police officer, doctor or lawyer?

Why should it be more unacceptable, or illegal, to represent yourself falsely as a former decorated member of the armed servies than to represent yourself as a former college graduate, former firefighter or former librarian?

The purpose of the act of representing yourself as a decorated veteran when you are not one is to commit fraud from which you will hopefully derive personal benefit. It is not a substantially different form of fraud than telling people that you have cancer in the hopes that they will provide you with something of value when you don't have cancer.

Prosecute for fraud, not lying.

Why should it be acceptable to be a journalist and make the news instead of reporting it?