Supreme Court to Decide Whether First Amendment Protects False Statements

Reuters reports that the U.S. Supreme Court granted the government's petition for certiorari in U.S. v. Alvarez, in which a California man was convicted under a law that criminalizes lying about military honors. The case has wide-ranging applications. As George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley observes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, "While the act concerns only lying about a military medal, the Alvarez case could establish a legal principle that would allow Congress to criminalize virtually any fib, which could lead to a sweeping new form of regulating speech in the United States." The law also allows the government to decide what is "true" and "false," a fearsome proposition for artists and activists. If upheld, the law could lead to legislation that targets anything from "false statements" in books and liberties taken in films based on real life to rappers' and online video game players' over-the-top boasts.