ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WUSA) -- Do you have a right to say you're a war hero if you're not?
That is a question that the Supreme Court may have to decide soon.
The courts are split on something called the "Stolen Valor Act," which makes it a crime to falsely say you've been awarded a military honor.
Lots of us lie all the time. "This won't hurt a bit"... "the Easter Bunny's coming" ... "Gee, you're looking thin!" But a growing number of people are now be facing prison time for lying about their military service.
There's no question Xavier Alvarez is a liar. Here's what he said his first day as a board member of a California Water Board: "I'm a retired Marine of 25 years. I retired in the year 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy."
"In fact, he had never even been in the military. Never. Not at all. And that's not uncommon," says Doug Sterner of Alexandria, who with his wife helped push the Stolen Valor Act through Congress.
The question about Alvarez: is he a criminal? His conviction for violating the federal Stolen Honor Act has been tossed out by a California appeals court, even after he admitted to an ABC reporter that he'd lied. "Do you have a Medal of Honor?" Brian Rooney asked him. "No I don't," he responded.
Sterner's spent years hunting honor thieves. He put together the "Hall of Valor" database of people who have received military decorations. It's now sponsored by Military Times.
"If every other Purple Heart out there is a bogus one," says Sterner, "it doesn't take away from the sacrifice of the man or woman who received it, but it places them under a suspicion, devalues the award, and can ultimately crumble the entire military award system."
But if lying about your service is a crime... where does it stop? "Generally there's a long tradition in this country that you are free to lie, little white lies, bigger lies," says Paul Rothstein, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. "As long as you don't derive some wealth out of it by cheating someone out of their money.
There's a whole lot of awful speech that's clearly protected by the First Amendment. But there are exceptions. And the courts are divided so far on this one, which puts the Alvarez case on track to be decided by the Supreme Court.
Written by Bruce Leshan
9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com