Veterans respond to court overturning lying lawUPDATE The mandate to buy health insurance coverage was a no-brainer since we already have one and if you look at your pay stub, you see the deduction for it.
Published July 01, 2012
Associated Press
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Jack Jacobs can proudly — and truthfully — say he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor in Vietnam. After a recent Supreme Court ruling, anyone else is free under the First Amendment to make the same claim, whether it's true or not.
Some military veterans say they consider the ruling a slap in the face. For Jacobs, though, it was the right decision. He said he wore the uniform to protect people's rights — even if he doesn't agree with how they exercise those rights.
"There are lots of things people do that revolt me, but I'm happy that I fought for this country not to give them the right to do something stupid, but for the majority of the people to do the right thing," said Jacobs, 66, who earned the Medal of Honor in 1969 for carrying several of his buddies to safety from a shelled rice field despite the shrapnel wounds in his head, the streaming blood clouding his vision.
"I'm a free speech guy," he said.
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What bothers me is this Stolen Valor ruling. This court does not support the military and that is now very clear. First it was the right of Westboro hate group to protest at military funerals, thus giving them the right to single out families and stalk them when they are simply trying to bury a family member who gave their lives for this country. Now they gave the right to people to lie about being a hero.
Some say it is not a big deal because sooner or later these people are proven to be liars. The problem is what happens before the "later" comes and they have swindled generous people out of a lot of money. The American people are generous and while they hear little about the servicemen and women, when they do, they rush to help those in need. Knowing someone can no legally lie about being wounded in combat or being awarded the highest honors in this country will cause them to think longer and harder about doing anything for anyone.
Opinion 1 is out.
Court rules in favor of man who lied about receiving the medal of honor.
Court says lies protected by 1st amendment.
28 Jun 12
At issue is the constitutional value of false statements of fact, and whether Congress went too far when passing the Stolen Valor Act in 2006.
The Supreme Court ruling effectively has thrown out the Stolen Valor act, a federal law that would make it a crime to lie about receiving certain military honors.
Some justices expressed concerns during February arguments that the act could "chill" other types of speech, while others said they felt the law was narrowly tailored and preserved the integrity of military honors.
also
Supreme Court upholds entire health care law
June 28th, 2012
Editor's note: We're live blogging from the Supreme Court today as the nation waits to see how the justices will rule on the health care law. You can follow along below as CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears and Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin get the latest details live from the court as well as analysis when the opinion is delivered.
[Updated at 10:16 a.m. ET] Kate Bolduan reports that the Chief Justice John Roberts issued a long opinion in which he said the controversial individual mandate may be upheld and is within Congress’ power under the taxing clause rather than the commerce clause.
[Updated at 10:15 a.m. ET] The Supreme Court has upheld the entire health care law by a vote of 5 to 4, Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears said. That includes the medicare provision
[Updated at 10:06 a.m. ET] In a landmark decision that will impact the nation for decades, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a key provision of President Barack Obama's health care law, ruling that requiring people to have health insurance violates the Constitution.
Chief Justice John Roberts had noted that however that the mandate would have been struck down based on the commerce clause , saying it would "open a new and vast domain" for Congressional power.
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UPDATE 1:25 pm est
From Stars and Stripes
2 minutes ago
Supreme Court strikes down Stolen Valor Act
By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 28, 2012
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a 2006 law making it a federal misdemeanor to lie about receiving a military service medal, but left the door open for Congress to try again with a more finely tuned law.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court said the Stolen Valor Act violated First Amendment free-speech protections, ruling in favor of Xavier Alvarez, a California man prosecuted for false claims in 2007 that he had received the Medal of Honor.
Alvarez, a former member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board, speaking at his first meeting as a board member, said: “I’m a retired Marine of 25 years. I retired in the year 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy.”
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It would appear that our highest court in the land has followed in the footsteps of congress. Most of them have lied to the people for years and now the SUPREME court has indeed sanctioned it.
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