June 28, 2012 - 5:02pm
The October 2011 Term of the United States Supreme Court ended today, and most of the national attention will be on Chief Justice Roberts' opinion upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act--rightly so, since millions of Americans lack adequate healthcare, and Congress should be able to do something about it. But the penultimate decision of the term--the opening act this morning--was also an opinion worth noticing. By a vote of 6-3, the Court declared that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 unconstitutionally violates the First Amendment. The Stolen Valor Act made it a federal crime to lie about having received a military honor, whether or not anyone believed the lie or was harmed by it. Criminalizing speech is an extreme departure from basic freedom--Mr. Alvarez could have gone to prison, though there was no evidence that anyone actually believed his claim that he won the Congressional Medal of Honor. We send more people to prison in this country than any other. There are other ways to honor the military--and show disapproval of liars--than for the government to outlaw lying under pain of imprisonment.
