During an intense hour of debate before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that touched on the harms and benefits of lying, the dramatic high point came when Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. asked if a “pure lie” had any value under the First Amendment.
Federal public defender Jonathan Libby fumbled for an answer, positing that author Samuel Clemens’ creation of his false Mark Twain persona had value. But that did not cut it for Roberts, so Justice Stephen Breyer interjected with a historic lie that saved lives and no one would want to punish.
