United States v. Alvarez

United States v. Alvarez
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 22, 2012 Decided June 28, 2012
Full case name	United States, Petitioner v. Xavier Alvarez
Docket no.	11-210
Citations	567 U.S. 709 (more) 132 S. Ct. 2537; 183 L. Ed. 2d 574; 2012 U.S. LEXIS 4879
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	Defendant's motion for dismissal rejected, unreported, n° CR-07-1035-RGK (C.D. Cal. 2008); reversed and remanded, 617 F.3d 1198 (9th Cir., 2009); rehearing en banc denied, 638 F.3d 666 (9th Cir., 2011); certiorari granted 565 U.S. ___
Questions presented
Is the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 constitutional?
Holding
The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 (18 U.S.C. 704) is unconstitutional because it violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
Plurality	Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Ginsburg, Sotomayor
Concurrence	Breyer (in judgment), joined by Kagan
Dissent	Alito, joined by Scalia, Thomas
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709 (2012), is a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was unconstitutional. The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was a federal law that criminalized false statements about having a military medal. It had been passed by Congress as an effort to stem instances where people falsely claimed to have earned the medal in an attempt to protect the valor of legitimate recipients. A 6–3 majority of the Supreme Court agreed that the law was unconstitutional and violated the free speech protections under the First Amendment. Despite reaffirming the opinion that was previously issued by the Ninth Circuit, it could not agree on a single rationale. Four justices concluded that a statement's falsity is not enough, by itself, to exclude speech from First Amendment protection. Another two justices concluded that while false statements were entitled to some protection, the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was invalid because it could have achieved its objectives in less restrictive ways.

Veterans organizations and politicians reacted negatively. Several months after the decision, both chambers of Congress passed new versions of the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 based on the suggestions in the Court's opinion. Despite the Supreme Court having struck down the conviction under the Act, Alvarez remained in prison for fraud on other matters.