Xavier Alvarez; the reason the Stolen Valor Act was written (Updated)
Back in 2007, Xavier Alvarez told a crowd while he was campaigning for the post of water commissioner, that he was a Marine and that he’d been awarded the Medal of Honor, neither of which was true. Melissa Campbell, a former active duty Marine herself, questioned the veracity of the statement. She was suspended from her job two weeks later for unprofessional behavior and fired two weeks after that.
Now three years later, a bunch of clowns impersonating the judges of the Ninth Circuit appellate court, tell us that lying is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution (Fox News link).
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him in a 2-1 decision Tuesday, agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there’s no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there’s no compelling reason for the government to ban such lies.
The dissenting justice insisted that the majority refused to follow clear Supreme Court precedent that false statements of fact are not entitled to First Amendment protection.
McQ from Blackfive writes;
…I’d love to hear the argument or see anything in writing from them which claimed the 1st Amendment was designed to protect liars in general.
If i lied in court, they’d toss my ass in the hoosegow for what they call perjury. If I lied to a police officer, again, I’d get tossed in the Grey Bar Hotel for obstructing an investigation. Certainly speech that applies to the justice system is not protected by the 1st Amendment, so it follows that somewhere there’s some unprotected speech outside of the legal community.
The truth is important in legal proceedings, so those judges have an obligation to “unprotect” speech that the rest of us have to deal with every day. But apparently, they’re just too lazy to protect the people they’re sworn to protect.
I still think that anyone who defends the behavior of jackasses like Alvarez as protected by the Constitution are just contrary for the sake of being contrary. And, oh, what is the 9th Circuit going to say about Melissa Campbells right to free speech while she paid an actual price for questioning Alvarez’ lies?
Jerry920 among others sent me the links, even though I’d written about Alvarez last night (thanks for reading, guys :eyeroll:)
UPDATE: Some guy named Mark Seavey who is moving up in the world, has an excellent article on this subject in The Hill’s Congress Blog.
Category: Legal, Phony soldiers
Actually, if you lie to a cop, its False Official Statement. For the feds, its 18 USC 1001.
At least the Douchebag in question is already doing five years on other charges.
I believe in protecting Free Speech.
I also believe in practicing Common Sense.
Where the Stolen Valor Act is concerned, I think there ought to be a way to do both. You don’t yell ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater, and you don’t go around claiming acts you didn’t perform and wearing medals you didn’t earn. Simple.
There is a golden nugget in this opinion, written by the dissenting judge, “The dissenting justice insisted that the majority refused to follow clear Supreme Court precedent that false statements of fact are not entitled to First Amendment protection“. Hopefully, Justices Kagan and the “Wise Latina” aside, the SCOTUS will get a chance to revisit this issue, and stand by their opinion rendered earlier.
And, no one should be surprised that the Reversible Ninth is at odds with what the Supremes have decided.
Ya know, I served in the Army for 3 active and 1 NG. I didn’t go to Ranger school (I had the opportunity, but didn’t), although I served with several Rangers and my unit worked with 1/75th. I chewed some of the same mud as Jonn and COB6. I didn’t jump out of a plane with a Gerber MKII knife in my yapper and a hanky for a parachute just to get the bad guys on a super secret mission. I didn’t swim underwater while holding my breath for 40 miles, just so I could come on to the bad guys shoreline without having to leave gear behind. My code name wasn’t SSS (it sounds cooler than XXX), which stands for Super Secret Squirrel and my records are “classified” and that’s why you can’t see them. I don’t have a “sanitized” 214, or other really cool sounding shit that makes me sound impressive.
I split my time between work and helping Veterans and their families through the American Legion, which I am eligible to belong to through my service during conflict. I want to be known for helping those that served, helping those that are left behind, and looking out for those that are too young to understand why mom or dad isn’t coming home.
Do I go to the VA? Yeah, I do, because I have some service connected disabilities, but I don’t attempt to defraud the system or claim shit I don’t deserve and didn’t earn.
It’s a fricken shame that these judges don’t have the common sense to understand that the real harm in all of this is not to free speech, but to those that are going to be tarnished by these frauds and have their sacrifices used as a punchline by some asshole that wants to get laid.
Maybe I should call myself a Circuit Court Judge?
Though not precisely comparable (or relevant) to this case, the similar concepts of criminal impersonation and identity theft are very real concerns. And yes, fake heros sometimes obtain military benefits – even pensions – illegally. This ruling was slightly shortsighted.
The fact that this obscene decsion came out of the bowels of the liberal Ninth Circuit Court isn’t surprising. Fraud involving lying about your military service and impersonating is free speech? Well hell, in that case, just provide a fill-in-the-blank DD214 for these turds and they can create their own history.
I was always taught that wearing unearned decorations on a uniform was a violation of the UCMJ. Servicmembers caught doing that are subject to prosecution. Former servicemembers and civilians should not be exempt.
To me, medals lost some of their prestige, some of their meaning. If we can say whatever we want and claim freedom of speech; were in for a world of hurt.
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