[Platapus]

Originally Posted by fred8615

Where exactly does it say in the First Amendment that you have a right to lie? And if you do have a right to lie, how in the world do you ever charge or convict someone of perjury??? Or lying to the police (a crime in many places)???

Where does it say that lying, in itself, is a criminal offense?

Lying under oath is illegal
Lying for the intent of defrauding is illegal
Lying to law enforcement officials in the course of a legal investigation is illegal

But, Lying to impress people is not illegal, despite being morally reprehensible.

From the court records

“We are aware of no authority holding that the government may, through a criminal law, prohibit speech simply because it is knowingly factually false.”

we presumptively protect all speech against government interference, leaving it to the government to demonstrate, either through a well-crafted statute or case-specific application, the historical basis for a compelling need to remove some speech from protection . . . for some reason other than the mere fact that it is a lie.

Our commitment to freedom of speech is never better tested then when applied to something we strongly object to.