An elected official charged with falsely claiming he earned the military's highest honor has filed a motion to dismiss the federal case against him on free speech grounds.

The motion argues that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, under which water board member Xavier Alvarez was charged, is incompatible with the First Amendment because it restricts free speech by criminalizing false claims of military honors.

Alvarez, an elected representative to the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, said last year at a water district meeting that he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his deeds as a Marine.

After admitting he never served in the military, he was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act. He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge.

Alvarez's lawyer Brianna J. Fuller argued in the motion to dismiss, which will be heard Jan. 14 in federal court, that "protecting the reputation of military decorations" is not a compelling enough reason to place "restrictions on false statements."

But government prosecutors said in their opposition submitted Wednesday that the First Amendment does not protect deliberate falsehoods.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/04/state/n053954S17.DTL

This is just offensive... Definitely not protected speech.

i see this one going all the way to the top...and i won't go into the obscenity argument, few around here find this as obscene as i do:rant:

Frankly most military decorations are simply not worth the blood spilled to get them.

Fraudulent statements are not protected by the First Amendment, period.

With that said,who the hell seriously thinks they could claim to have been awarded a medal of honor and get away with it....something about this screams mental problems to me.

Why would he make such a boneheaded statement?

Any library carries current copies of the Medal of Honor winners. It's there for all to see and check up on.

He's an idiot as well as being a despicable liar.

This guy shows himself as a bit of an idiot :(

That said, it undermines the bravery of men who fought and died for the honor.

My boss claims he won a Purple Heart in "Nam".

Unless they hand out awards for hemmorrhoids gotten from sitting on your ass or a booboo you get from stapling papers to your own hand counts as a qualifier, I think we can safely rule out an award for HIM.

i see this one going all the way to the top...and i won't go into the obscenity argument, few around here find this as obscene as i do:rant:

I find it very obscene. My husband is retired from the Marines and he would most definitely not appreciate this man's behavior.