Whatever you think of Richard Blumenthal's embarrassing attempts to embellish his military record, this proposal by Orrin Hatch seems like it could backfire. The bill would amend the 2005 Stolen Valor Act, which criminalized false claims of military decoration, Dave Weigel (whose headline I'm borrowing) reports. The proposed text states that it would be illegal to make false claims of military service, including lying about having been in combat, "for the purposes of gaining recognition, honorarium, official office, or other position of authority, employment or other benefit or object of value as a result of the statement, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than six months, or both."
The first thing that comes to mind is that someone should ask Hatch if he thinks one of his colleagues should have served time in jail. The second is that fraud is already a crime, but the question of lying about military service in order to gain "recognition" or "other benefit or object of value" skirts very close to violating the First Amendment. Let's say you lie to someone at a bar about having been in combat in order to get them to buy you a drink. A drink is an object of value. So now you've committed a crime?
-- A. Serwer
