The law has been challenged in federal courts in Colorado and California. The appeal to the Supreme Court comes in the case of US v. Alvarez [materials], in which the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] declared the law unconstitutional [JURIST report] last August. Although the panel conceded that Congress's intentions were "praiseworthy," it found that the law required courts to "extend inapposite case law to create an unprecedented exception to First Amendment guarantees" and was "not narrowly drawn" enough to survive First Amendment scrutiny. Alvarez was arrested after he gave a speech before the Three Valley Water District board of directors in California, to which he had recently been admitted, in which he claimed to be a retired marine and the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. In Colorado, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] awaits arguments in the case of US v. Strandlof [ACLU materials]. Rick Strandlof was arrested in 2009 after he founded a veterans' club in Colorado Springs and claimed to have been awarded the purple heart.