DENVER, July 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. district judge in Denver has dismissed the case of a man who lied about being a war veteran, sayi8ng the says the Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional.
Judge Robert Blackburn threw out the case against Rick Strandlof, who had been charged with misdemeanors for making false claims of receiving military decoration for serving in the Iraq war, The Denver Post reported Friday.
The act violates First Amendment free speech rights, Blackburn ruled.
"The Stolen Valor Act is declared to be facially unconstitutional as a content-based restriction on speech that does not serve a compelling government interest, and consequently that the Act is invalid as violative of the First Amendment," Blackburn wrote in his opinion.
Strandlof, the ACLU of Colorado and the Rutherford Institute, a generally conservative non-profit civil liberties group, all filed briefs with Blackburn contesting the Stolen Valor Act, the Post said.
Simply lying is not illegal, they argued.
The Stolen Valor Act, signed into law in 2006, prohibits people from falsely claiming they have been awarded military decorations and medals.
