“Stolen Valor” Knocked Down
June 28th, 2012 - 2:08 pm
Another SCOTUS decision slipped under the radar this morning:
The Supreme Court today struck down the Stolen Valor Act that made it illegal to falsely claim to be the recipient of military honors and decorations, SCOTUSblog.com reports.
The court found that the statute violates the First Amendment.
The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, says the law, as written, “seeks to control and suppress all false statements on this one subject in almost limitless times and settings without regard to whether the lie was made for the purpose of material gain.”
This is a correct decision. However, people who do wear medals they haven’t earned absolutely must be shunned by all decent people.
The same court that refused to place limits on what behavior the federal government can regulate by imposing a tax for non-compliance.
Hammy, it’s a tough call. Me, I think Stolen Valor counts as fraud, but the court thought differently in cases where money didn’t change hands. (which it doesn’t in most of these cases) It’s an arguable point.
So, we go to Plan B: unleash the minions of This Ain’t Hell (But you can see it from here). Those guys eat posers for breakfast. Hell, it’s fun just watching them rip down a story faster than a school of piranhas strip a cow.
‘He notes, however, that Congress might be able to rewrite the law “to achieve the government’s objective in less burdensome ways.”’
Sure, they need to call the penalty for Stolen Valor a tax.