United States of America, Petitioner Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., U.S. Solicitor General
On December 20, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act, which made it a Federal misdemeanor crime, punishable by up to a year in prison, for any person to falsely represent “himself or herself, verbally or in writing, to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States.” Up to that point, it had only been a crime to wear or sell medals without authorization. In 2007, the constitutionality of the law was challenged by Xavier Alvarez, who had been pled guilty to falsely claiming that he had…
