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

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So, if all you got out of Vietnam was the Canadian Campaign Medal, or if your career and grad school just didn't give you enough free time to do Iraq or Afghanistan, but you want to impress people, now you can. The very liberal 9th circuit court says you have the right.

Just keep two things in mind:

One: Since about 1960, a few hundred thousand of America's best young men have been wounded and maimed while performing acts of valor; about 70,000 of them were killed. They are watching you.

 Two: There are a lot of live GIs around. They're young, fit, strong and love to fight. When they meet another "decorated GI" they like to socialize and compare notes about where you've been assigned and who you know. They can spot an imposter like a fly can spot dung. The 9th circuit court was silent on the issue of outraged GIs beating the spit out of imposters.

If your life sucks so much that you have to impersonate someone better than you, find a roof and pretend you're an Olympic high diver.