Md. judge rules Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
The lying and the fraud are two separate issues. The Constitution protects the lie, but it doesn't necessarily protect what you do with the lie, like when you use the lie to defraud. It's no different than claiming to have an advanced degree from Harvard when you don't have one. You can claim that all you want, and it's protected speech. But if you use that claim to defraud, then you've committed fraud. Two separate issues that this law tries to meld into one.

Thank you. That's what I've been trying to say all along. LOL
 

tbubster

Seasoned Expediter
I don't think it's a Constitutional issue. That's the point. If the guy can be charged with fraud, leave it at that. We don't need anymore laws dealing with specific issues, which COULD fly in the face of the Constitution, which this one apparently has.

Do you agree if a white guy murders a black guy, he should be charged with a hate crime? Me neither. Murder is enough. Likewise, fraud is enough in this case. We don't need a different flavored law. Just keep it vanilla.

It has nothing to do with his speech, and everything to do with the result of said speech. It's not a freedom of speech issue. It's a fraud issue.

Geez.

In post 11 greg calls it protected free speech under the 1st amendment.Then in post # 23 you talk about it being a 1st amendment issue.When people say its a free speech issue they turn it into a constitutional issue.If a man is protected by the 1st amendent from one then he is protected by it from them all.I dont like the fact that they make laws like this either more over I dont like the fact that people think this is a right protected by the constitution of the fact that there is even a need for laws like this.

I am just SO confused. :confused: How is criminal behavior protected under the Constitution?

Maybe it is generational, I just have a totally different way of looking at everything.

Feel the same way its not.also done with this issue.
 

purgoose10

Veteran Expediter
The judge is obviously left handed, left wing well just plain left. Those people just don't think right. They do everything they can to discredit our military. None of those left handed snot blowing, face the north at 2 pm and bow down and #%&*() just don't get it. It's all that bad dope they got when they were kids.
It's okay to abort kids but not okay to fry a killer. They all will shortly start reading the Koran (don't know how to spell it) and start talking giberish. My opinion, kill them all and let God sort it out.:cool:

Your allowed one rant a day. This is mine.
 
Last edited:

greg334

Veteran Expediter
TO MAKE IT CLEAR .. the courts made this a consitutional issue, not me or anyone here.

The title of the thread says it all ...

Md. judge rules Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional


THIS is why the "Stolen Valor" act was passed. Constitutional problem? Not in my book. Right to lie? Nope. These people are doing great harm to a great number of people. People who DID serve with honor. Every penny that a "fake" takes out of the system the less there is available for those who EARNED it and may need it to survive.

I want to know where the fake takes a penny of money from those who are deserving?

I don't see this as an issue with the VA system even though I don't think a few deserve any care but regardless it isn't about pensions, about benefits but of third party things handed to those who served in uniform and I hope in combat.


There is no right to lie, it is the same reason you can't yell fire in a movie theatre. Glock certainly failed by not looking into that guys story but it still doesn't give him the right to lie.

Well you got it all twisted, lying isn't impacting anyone unless someone acts on the lie. In this case Glock didn't do what they should have done and are to blame, and yes there is a right to lie as much as there is a right to cuss and a right to have an opinion. Yelling fire in a crowded room is not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination.

Well Greg, I'm going to guess you haven't served. If you did, you'd have a better appreciation for what's at stake when acts like this are committed.

Nope did not serve in our military but I do NOT appreciate any act that ties one thing to the freedoms we have to qualify anyone that freedom by any means, period. This does include other things and I am simply standing on the position that any thing that restricts our rights damages all of us more than it helps any one group.

What makes this particular story all the more galling is the fact that this punk did serve and therefore knew the seriousness of his actions.

So?

I mean it isn't like he has inflicted damage to any one person or prevented any negitive thing from happening to any one person.

Quite frankly, no court ordered sanction would do anywhere near the amount justice I'd like to serve up to this pond scum.

Actually I lump this guy in with any other con-artist, no more worse than the person who screws some old lady out of their savings to talk to their dead husband.

So, and please correct me if I am wrong, you believe that under the guise of "free speech", that people have a RIGHT to defraud others? That they somehow have a RIGHT to claim to be something that they are NOT and as a result may harm others? Did you read that article?

Not trying to argue, just trying to understand.

Well here is how it works, the first amendment says that government can't abridge freedom of speech, which means they can't judge what someone says or how they say is unless it damages other people's rights. Yelling fire in a crowded room has an effect that can cause death and injury, so that is a direct result to the yelling fire. In this case, the person said "I am a vet, I have ten purple hearts" and the Glock people took at face value, which is not the fault of the person but that of glock. SO the courts affirmed that the government does not have the right to restrict speech in this way because they can't define the scope of the law to exclude things that can restrict the speech to everyone. In other words it is the government that can use the law to do other things which is the foundation of the amendment in the first place to restrict the government.

If you want a good example, the case of the Westboro Baptist Church is one of the best. I think the ACLU vs. Skokie is another one.

I am just SO confused. :confused: How is criminal behavior protected under the Constitution?

Maybe it is generational, I just have a totally different way of looking at everything.

Nope not a generational thing unless you were born before 1840.

The act of lying is not a criminal act, the act of continuing to lie to trick people with a specific group of thing is the problem and when he accepted the money and other things under the guise of being something he is not, he committed fraud, but even then it raises a question of what the rules to participate were and how did they vet the people who entered the contest. Again going back to the fault is glock, not the person.

The judge is obviously left handed, left wing well just plain left. Those people just don't think right. They do everything they can to discredit our military.

Well hate to break the news to you but if this reaches the supreme court, it may be a case where the right leaning judges are going to up hold the lower courts decision based on the constitutionality of the case, whether or not the government has the right to pursue criminal charges based on speech.

No matter how you look at it, the best thing to do is forget about BS laws like this and start having companies like Glock enforce better rules.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
What game?

I am not playing a game, you all are saying the same thing and expect the same thing that you are opposing. You and others scream about Obama and all that is being done to our country but then when faced with an issue which goes directly to the core of our basic freedom, many act as if it is alright to do the same thing as Obama and the left does.

I ask this question -

who was harmed?

I don't see any one person being harmed by any other person when it comes to this subject.

I got a lecture about honor, valor this very subject this afternoon and that was from a Silver Star recipient who was seriously wounded. His point was clear, this is a trivial issue and it damages the same rights that he and others believe in.

He made a very good point that the abstract is used with these laws and their creation and the reality is ignored. The reality is opening the door for more damaging things down the line.

So there isn't a game, I am engaging everyone because I see a bit of hypocritical opinions of sorts among many of you when it comes to rights, freedoms and the government.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The snow stopped at Comerica Park and the game is started. I HOPE our Festival is NOT rained on and no volcanoes mess with us.

Say goodnight Sammy.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
The snow stopped at Comerica Park and the game is started. I HOPE our Festival is NOT rained on and no volcanoes mess with us.

Say goodnight Sammy.

Say goodbye to any authority to tell anyone they're 'off topic'.....

On topic: Greg is 100% right - saying one is a decorated vet is protected by freedom of speech, even if it's a lie. [Is that crazy Reverend who protests at funerals telling the truth?]
The idea of stealing valor is just silly - only the symbol representing it can be stolen [theft], and if used for financial gain, that's fraud.
Why is this so difficult to understand?
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Say goodbye to any authority to tell anyone they're 'off topic'.....

On topic: Greg is 100% right - saying one is a decorated vet is protected by freedom of speech, even if it's a lie. [Is that crazy Reverend who protests at funerals telling the truth?]
The idea of stealing valor is just silly - only the symbol representing it can be stolen [theft], and if used for financial gain, that's fraud.
Why is this so difficult to understand?

Because some people want 'special' laws for 'special' people. The left has been doing the same for years. In this case, the right is pushing the 'you can be a patriot, just like me' bandwagon.
 

Camper

Not a Member
Because some people want 'special' laws for 'special' people. The left has been doing the same for years. In this case, the right is pushing the 'you can be a patriot, just like me' bandwagon.

No T-Hawk,

This isn't about "special laws for special people". This is about fraud and yes it's virtual theft, contrary to what others on this thread think.

I dont expect those who didnt serve to fully understand the gravity of this issue. However, this punk did serve and he knew the effect his actions had on others.





Posted with my Droid EO Forum App
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
But if there's laws on the book already for fraud...
Exactly. And it's why this court case is about Constitutional free speech and not about fraud. The law was passed with with well-worn liberal "feel good" intentions to protect the feelings of a select group of people, despite there already being laws on the books which deal with fraud. The law makes it so that you cannot make the false claim, even if you do nothing fraudulent with the claim. In other words, it restricts free speech.

Incidentally pallud, if making the claim resulted in, or would likely result in a public panic, then and only then could it be restricted for the same reason as shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Falsely claiming to be a decorated military veteran doesn't do that.
 

Camper

Not a Member
The law was passed with with well-worn liberal "feel good" intentions to protect the feelings of a select group of people

No, no it wasn't. Again, this issue and the law in question have nothing to do with any type of ideological agenda.

If you had any real first hand appreciation of what this "select group" endured to earn the honor associated with these medals, you'd understand that this isn't merely about giving a "select group" protected class status, not by a long shot, pal.

I've said all I'm going to say on this matter, so I'm through with this being debated 8 different ways to Sunday.



Posted with my Droid EO Forum App
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
No, no it wasn't. Again, this issue and the law in question have nothing to do with any type of ideological agenda.

It has everything to do with an ideological agenda: that those who got it honestly deserve more protection than current law [theft & fraud] provides, therefore a new law is required.

If you had any real first hand appreciation of what this "select group" endured to earn the honor associated with these medals, you'd understand that this isn't merely about giving a "select group" protected class status, not by a long shot, pal.
"First hand appreciation of what this group endured" isn't required to understand what the desired law would protect, any more than any law designed to protect any other select group - that's simply arrogance speaking.

I've said all I'm going to say on this matter, so I'm through with this being debated 8 different ways to Sunday.

Whatever.



Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

Note to Paullud: the key word in the classic 'fire in a crowded theater' example is 'crowded', because it's the factor that makes death and/or injury the likely result of causing panic - if there were only a few people, the likelihood of anyone getting trampled is zero.
 

chefdennis

Veteran Expediter
Ok, this guy was "awarded" a "Annual" award from Glock that they give to someone they "choose" as their "Hero of the Year"...ok so was this guy the only one that they looked at for this award in the year they gave it to him?? If they looked at others, who finished 2nd???
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
No, no it wasn't. Again, this issue and the law in question have nothing to do with any type of ideological agenda.
Of course it is. It's practically a definition example of an ideological agenda. The whole notion of "stolen valor" is purely ideological. It was introduced and passed solely to protect the reputation and meaning of military heroism medals, and greatly broadened the existing law preventing the unauthorized manufacturing, selling or wearing of military decorations, service badges and medals. The intent clearly (and as was stated in Congressional debate at the time) was to motivate and honor the troops. But that can certainly be done without restricting free speech, especially free speech which doesn't enlist damages. The law currently requires no victim or damages be done, only the uttering of the speech. That's a classic "I don't like what you have to say, therefore you can't say it," which reeks of ideology.

As one justice noted, if the Stolen Valor Act were held to be Constitutional, then it will completely remove the Constitutional bar (because of the precedent it sets) to have laws enacted that would criminalize everyday lies. It's that slippery slope people so often talk about. "There would be no constitutional bar to criminalizing lying about one’s height, weight, age, or financial status on Match.com or Facebook, or falsely representing to one’s mother that one does not smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, is a virgin, or has not exceeded the speed limit while driving on the freeway. The sad fact is, most people lie about some aspects of their lives from time to time,” Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr., wrote for the majority in the 9th Circuit case (yeah, yeah, I know, it's the 9th Circuit, and they're bat crap crazy, but even a bat crap crazy blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then). But the point is, criminalizing speech is a tricky business, and Congress knows it, which is why they debated it, and it's also why they have an amendment waiting in the wings which adds the "for personal gain" caveat to the existing law. Ironically, if and when "for personal gain" is added to the law, the law will then become just another law to combat, ta-da, fraud.

If you had any real first hand appreciation of what this "select group" endured to earn the honor associated with these medals, you'd understand that this isn't merely about giving a "select group" protected class status, not by a long shot, pal.
If by "any real first hand appreciation" you mean being awarded a military heroism medal, no, I don't have that. But that doesn't mean I don't have other types of first hand appreciation of the honor associated with those types of medals, because I do.

I've said all I'm going to say on this matter, so I'm through with this being debated 8 different ways to Sunday.
OK. Fortunately, the Supreme Court will have the final say, regardless, then we won't have to debate it at all. :D
 
Top