Supreme Court Strikes Down Law That Makes It Illegal to Lie About Receiving Military Awards

WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) -- The Supreme Court has struck down a federal law making it a crime to lie about having received the Medal of Honor and other prized military awards.

(Related: Stolen Valor: Supreme Court Asked to Uphold Military Impostor Law)

The court voted 6-3 Thursday in favor of Xavier Alvarez, a former local elected official in California who falsely claimed he was a decorated war veteran. MSNBC has more about Alvarez:

The case involved Xavier Alvarez who was an elected member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board in Pomona, California. In 2007 Alvarez said at a public water district board meeting that he was a retired Marine, had been “wounded many times,” and had been “awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor” in 1987.

In fact, he had never served in the United States armed forces.

Alvarez had pleaded guilty to violating a 2006 law that was adopted with the nation at war in Afghanistan and Iraq and aimed at people making phony claims of heroism in battle. The court, in a judgment written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, ordered that his conviction be thrown out.