United States v. Elven Swisher

with whom N.R. SMITH and WATFORD, Circuit Judges, join:

Xavier Alvarez announced in a public meeting that he was a former Marine and had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. When the United States prosecuted Alvarez for “falsely representing] himself ... verbally” as having received a military decoration or medal, 18 U.S.C. § 704(b) (2011 ed.), the Supreme Court held that his speech was protected by the First Amendment. United States v. Alvarez, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2537, 2551, 183 L.Ed.2d 574 (2012) (Kennedy, J.) (plurality opinion); id. at 2556 (Breyer, J., concurring in the…