A divided Nincth Circuit Court denied en banc rehearing on a decision striking down the Stolen Valor Act in the case of a man who had claimed falsely that he had served 29 years in the Marine Corps and was awarded the Medal of Honor.
The dissenters said that there were Supreme Court precedents denying free speech protection to false statements, but Chief Judge Alex Kozinski defended the ruling, “Without the robust protections of the First Amendment, the white lies, exaggerations and deceptions that are an integral part of human intercourse would become targets of censorship, subject only to the rubber stamp known as ‘rational basis review.’” -db
From the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, March 22, 2011, by Kenneth Ofgang.