Professor Larson Comments on Supreme Court Case for Bee
Professor Carlton Larson commented for the Sacramento Bee on United States v. Alvarez, a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether false statements of fact are subject to First Amendment protections. The case involves a Pomona man who falsely claimed to have been awarded the Medal of Honor for service in the U.S. Marine Corps and was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, a law passed by Congress in 2006 making it a federal crime to falsely claim to have been awarded congressionally authorized military decorations. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the man's conviction, and now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.
"It raises really big issues," said Larson. "This whole idea, to what extent are false statements of fact excluded from the First Amendment, has not really been decided. This certainly could be a historically important case."
Carlton Larson's research interests focus on constitutional law and legal history, with a strong emphasis on the 18th century.