(CN) - In a free society replete with barstool braggarts and tall-tale tellers, there is no place for a federal law that makes it a crime to lie about receiving military honors, according to a raft of briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court.
First Amendment groups have clamored to support a California politician who was prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act for fabricating a military history.
Xavier Alvarez, a former elected member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board in Pomona, Calif., became one of the first persons prosecuted under the 2005 law, which was passed to discourage the world's Walter Mittys and Willie Lomans from lying about winning the Medal of Honor, whose luster Congress feared was being diminished by rampant dishonesty.
Alvarez admits in his own brief, filed by his public defenders in Los Angeles, that he is an inveterate liar who has juggled a slew of whoppers for many years.
"He lied when he claimed to have played professional hockey for the Detroit Red Wings," the brief states. "He lied when claimed to be married to a Mexican starlet whose appearance in public caused paparazzi to swoon. He lied when he claimed to be an engineer. He lied when he claimed to have rescued the American ambassador during the Iranian hostage crises, and when he said that he was shot going back to grab the American flag."
The FBI began investigating Alvarez after he announced in one public meeting that he had won the Medal of Honor after serving in the Marines for 25 years. When it became clear he had done neither, Alvarez was condemned for his lies and prosecuted. A federal judge ordered Alvarez to pay $5,000, serve three years of probation and do community service, but the 9th Circuit reversed on appeal in 2010, ruling that part of the law violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court eventually agreed to take up the case.
Attorneys representing media companies, newspapers, publishers, defense lawyers, free-speech advocates and legal scholars have urged the high court to affirm the 9th Circuit's ruling.
They argue that, in cases where such lies hurt only the teller, the First Amendment protects even blatant falsehoods. The government's involvement in monitoring false statements that lack defamatory intent poses the risk of large-scale censorship, the briefs claim.
Enforcement of the law would allegedly make it nearly impossible for media to fact-check articles and reports, and it will actually encourage veterans to keep quiet about their service, as it makes no distinction between a false statement told on purpose or one borne from faulty memory.
They also claim that the act is part of a recent "criminalization explosion," in which Congress, with little debate, has created myriad new crimes over the last several years in a misguided effort to change human behavior.
The media and the ever-expanding court of public opinion are a better venue for exposing and pillorying liars, according to the groups.