Liars rejoice

It has been said there are three kinds of lies --  lies, damned lies and statistics. Maybe we should add a fourth worse than the other three -- the "stolen valor" kind, which, at least as far as an appeals court panel is concerned, are not unconstitutional.

A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, an appeals court panel in California ruled Tuesday.

The decision involves the case of Xavier Alvarez of Pomona, Calif., a water district board member who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration.

[. . .]

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him in a 2-1 decision Tuesday, agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there's no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there's no compelling reason for the government to ban such lies.

Some "knowing lies" are constitutionally protected (about history, for example, or global climate change) and some aren't (such as the famous fire-in-a-crowded-theater example), and the Supreme Court hasn't really issued a definitive statement on where or how to draw the line. So you could make a case either way on the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act, and this panel's decision probably won't be the last word. (Here's the decision, which offers good arguments for unconstitutionality. Here's a good case for the other side, from  Eugene Volokh; it's from an amicus brief in another case, but the arguments still apply.)

But as a practical matter, I don't see much point in singling out these particular falsehoods for fines or other punishment. Shame the lying curs and shun them, don't elect them and vote them out if they're already in office. Humiliation is the one thing they probably fear the most, so it's also the best punishment.