Josh Gerstein reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Constitution protects lying. That may seem obvious, but the decision overturns a law passed to prevent people from lying about military service:
In a 2-1 ruling, the appeals court panel found that the poetically named Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional. The majority threw out the prosecution of an elected member of a California water district board, Xavier Alvarez, who claimed at a meeting in 2007 and on previous occasions that he was the recipient of a Congressional Medal of Honor.
I guess that pours some cold water on Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch's attempt to selectively criminalize Democratic Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal. The GOP's Senate candidate in Illinois, Mark Kirk, can also breathe a sigh of relief.
I've actually thought the Stolen Valor Act was unconstitutional for a while now, but it's easy to demagogue because it involves the military.
