Does The First Amendment Protect Liars?
A Southern California water board official has recently been charged with lying about his military service. Xavier Alvarez was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. The Stolen Valor Act forbids falsely representing, verbally or written, of having been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed services of the United States. Anyone violating the Stolen Valor Act could be fined and imprisoned for up to six months.
During a meeting of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District last year, Alvarez said that he had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor while serving as a Marine. He later admitted he had lied about receiving the Medal and had never served in the military.
Alvarez was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act. A hearing was scheduled for January 14, 2008. His attorney, Brianna J. Fuller, filed a pre-hearing motion to dismiss, in which she argued that protecting the reputation of military decorations is not a compelling enough reason to place restrictions on false statements:
"Falsehoods are not outside the realm of First Amendment protection, and therefore restrictions on false statements must be supported by a strong government interest and must be directly related to that interest. The Court's scrutiny of the law should be especially demanding here, where the statement was made by an elected official, during a public meeting, on an issue of public concern: his qualifications for office. The Government's stated interest in this law, protecting the reputation of military decorations, is insufficient to survive this exacting scrutiny." ( From http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/248415/Op_Ed_Does_the_First_Amendment_Protect_the
_Right_to_Lie_ ).
Federal prosecutors responded that "Deliberate falsehoods are not protected by the First Amendment. It is only in the realm of ideas, unlike the case here which involves a readily verifiable misstatement of fact, that falsehoods garner any free speech protection." ( From http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/248415/Op_Ed_Does_the_First_Amendment_Protect_the
_Right_to_Lie_ ).
The 1st Amendment generally does protect the right to lie. Only in limited cases, where the Government has a compelling interest, is lying and exaggeration unprotected speech. Because the Government has a compelling interest in protecting consumers and preventing crime, lying in commercial speech and lying as part of a fraud are unprotected.
Generally speaking, the Government can never deny protection to speech due to its content. If the Government can make lying about military medals a crime it could make lying about having an affair or taking a sick day illegal.
As reprehensible as it may be, lying about having earned a military medal should not be a crime, in our opinion. Mr. Alvarez will likely get his punishment from the voters in the next election. He can kiss his political career goodbye.