Stating that “the integrity of the military award system relies more on a free press than on the threat of prosecution,” media organizations, writers, and performers urged the Supreme Court to hold that a federal law that makes it a crime to lie about having received a military medal violates the free speech protections of the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act, which made it a crime for any person to falsely represent that he or she had been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces.
In General Media Communications v. Cohen, the 2nd Circuit Court ruled that the Military Honor and Decency Act, a law that banned the sale or rental, at a military facility, of any material that “depicts or describes nudity … in a lascivious way” is constitutional. In PMG International v. Rumsfeld, the 9th Circuit Court affirmed the U.S. District Court’s dismissal of the lawsuit arguing that the Military Honor and Decency Act is unconstitutional.
