Top court strikes down military medal lying law

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a federal law that makes it a crime to lie about receiving a military medal, ruling it violated constitutional free-speech rights.

By a 6-3 vote in a case about how far the government may go to prosecute false claims about military honors, the high court handed a setback to the Obama administration over the "Stolen Valor Act" adopted by Congress in 2006.

Administration attorneys had defended the military medal law as constitutional and said the government has a strong interest in protecting the integrity of awards to war heroes.

Opponents said the law swept too broadly, suppressed speech and covered innocent bragging, satire and even false statements that cause no harm such as those at issue in the case by a serial liar who held local political office in California.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-usa-military-medals-idUSBRE85R0VH20120628