Few issues get the American public as perturbed as some fellow citizen, many pillars of their communities, claiming to have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan and to have received a military award for valor. So far the courts have ruled that laws punishing the deadbeats violate the First Amendment right to free speech.
The U.S. Supreme Court may rule soon on the constitutionality of the federal Stolen Valor Act passed in 2006. The court has a reputation for being a staunch defender of free speech but has found in the past that certain types of falsehoods are not protected.
Rather than rely on the courts and criminal penalties, it might be a better approach to create a national registry with the true military heroes of valor and alert friends and other members of the dissemblers’ communities to their disgraceful lies. -db
From United Press International, September 11, 2011, by Michael Kirkland.