The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most liberal and most reversed circuit in the country, has further fueled the fire and ire of Americans claiming a modern “judicial tyranny,” by the 9th Circuit’s recent refusal to grant a rehearing of its prior decision declaring the Stolen Valor Act an unconstitutional violation of “freedom of speech” under the First Amendment, thus effectively creating a “right to lie” about military service and receipt of the Medal of Honor and other medals of valor. (US v. Alvarez, No. 08-50345, Order Denying Petition For Panel Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc. March 21, 2011, accessible on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals website.).
The dissenting judges urged rehearing the Stolen Valor Act decision was wrongfully decided, and the resulting “right to lie” doctrine of the 9th Circuit imperils other laws criminalizing false speech. The dissenters point out, among other things, that the decision to declare the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional “on its face” because it does not require a showing of “harm” to someone else, itself flies in the face of many statutes penalizing pure speech which do not require proof that someone was harmed thereby. Included among the many examples cited, are false statements by illegal aliens regarding their right to be in the country which lies are presently punishable as crimes under federal statutes. (18 U.S. Code §1015(a), as Judge Bybee pointed out in his original dissent. Think of the 19 Saudi Islamist terrorists who lied their way into America and attacked us on 9-11-2001; or the 12-20 million illegal alien Mexicans and others in America right now living lies to remain. Will there lies which do not harm any particular individual now be a matter of “freedom of speech” and thus uttered with impunity?
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