Does prosecuting a person for lying about being awarded the Medal of Honor violate the First Amendment? That's what is about to be decided by the Supreme Court in United States v. Alvarez.
I had heard about the Stolen Valor Act back when I was in the Air Force(The Stolen Valor Act makes it a crime to falsely appear that one has been awarded a U.S. military medal or decoration). Naturally, I felt that anyone who falsely claimed that they were awarded a high ranking medal that they did not earn was a piece of shit. However, being a piece of shit is not a crime, nor should it be.
An editorial in the Monday edition of the New York Times, called "Is There A Right To Lie?" by William Bennett Turner, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, first brought this specific case to my attention. Alvarez was being prosecuted because "while introducing himself at a meeting of a California water board, he said that he was a retired Marine who had been awarded the Medal of Honor (both lies)." Punishment for this could be up to one year of imprisonment.
While it certainly is difficult for me to say that a lie as audacious and disgusting as this is constitutionally protected, I have to admit that it is. If the Westboro Baptist Church can legally spew their incredibly hateful speech, then this man should be able to lie about receiving the nation's highest military award. The editorial gives a good prescription for punishing these frauds--more speech. The author recommends creating an "online database of medal awardees," and that the "government could even shame known liars by publishing their names." Putting these people's names in the newspaper or a website would be the most effective way to get people to think twice about falsely claiming military awards. Being entered into this proposed database should also be required to show up on a background check when the person is applying for a job. Seeing that happen would be much more satisfying than seeing this scumbag sit in jail for a year.
Sources:
-New York Times Article
-Chicago Tribune Article on the Stolen Valor Act
I had heard about the Stolen Valor Act back when I was in the Air Force(The Stolen Valor Act makes it a crime to falsely appear that one has been awarded a U.S. military medal or decoration). Naturally, I felt that anyone who falsely claimed that they were awarded a high ranking medal that they did not earn was a piece of shit. However, being a piece of shit is not a crime, nor should it be.
An editorial in the Monday edition of the New York Times, called "Is There A Right To Lie?" by William Bennett Turner, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, first brought this specific case to my attention. Alvarez was being prosecuted because "while introducing himself at a meeting of a California water board, he said that he was a retired Marine who had been awarded the Medal of Honor (both lies)." Punishment for this could be up to one year of imprisonment.
While it certainly is difficult for me to say that a lie as audacious and disgusting as this is constitutionally protected, I have to admit that it is. If the Westboro Baptist Church can legally spew their incredibly hateful speech, then this man should be able to lie about receiving the nation's highest military award. The editorial gives a good prescription for punishing these frauds--more speech. The author recommends creating an "online database of medal awardees," and that the "government could even shame known liars by publishing their names." Putting these people's names in the newspaper or a website would be the most effective way to get people to think twice about falsely claiming military awards. Being entered into this proposed database should also be required to show up on a background check when the person is applying for a job. Seeing that happen would be much more satisfying than seeing this scumbag sit in jail for a year.
Sources:
-New York Times Article
-Chicago Tribune Article on the Stolen Valor Act
Unfortunately this may be a difficult decision for the court. Here's a question for you. Isn't it better to have someone go to jail for perjury. Perjury is a crime. That person who lied about receiving a high ranking award not only goes to jail but also then has to live with the fact of ruining their record. Think of it as if they were to lie about being a doctor, the result is the same. It is kind of like stealing one’s identity so I can see why it is in place. They have to explain that to potential employers why they were jail. Now as for the people of the Westboro Baptist, I completely condone their actions, unfortunately they have the right to speak their minds through the first amendment no matter if it only spuming bullshit.
ReplyDeleteI see where you are coming from. In my opinion, if newspapers publish false information, it is considered libel, and they can get punished for it because then the whole nation recieves wrong information. So if the audiance of the man recieved false news of his medal...can it be punishable as well?
ReplyDeleteOverall though, I do agree with the remedy of preventing this from happening. I think that by providing a public list of awardees, there would be no more lies because everything could be double-checked.