The ruling is just.
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A person claiming veteran's status to obtain benefits is violating fraud statutes.
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Right and some folks aren't doing it to claim benefits per se, but to claim competence, job experience, etc. in order to be able to compete for certain types of military contracts or gain non-military employment. At least on the military contracts applications, they can be charged with falsifying government documents still.
I always disliked the name of "Stolen valor." Except in identity fraud cases, the claimed valor isn't actually stolen, but fabricated. The claim of service not performed, in an of itself, is not theft as implied by the nickname. I am not sure why we even needed a new name for the word "liar," but folks working the emotional side of the issue back during Bush's administration parlayed it into being law, in part due to the emotional selling point. It came across as a misleading moniker for a law that was against misleading people.
Back in the late 70s and through the early 90s at our family pawnshops, I was amazed at how many Vietnam 'snipers' were now roofers in the Dallas area. The guys were definitely former military as they still retained their military ID cards to use for identification, but the claim of sniper service always seemed strange and way too common. I met a lot more self professed snipers than I did cooks, mechanics or regular foot soldiers. Of course, being a "sniper" didn't get you any more money on a pawn of your roofing tools than being a guy short on cash and wanting to hit the bars that night.