May be some exceptions when it comes to classified jobs with the government, or misrepresenting yourself to get into a Military Service academy (I've heard of folks getting kicked out and finding themselves owing the US government some money).
However, after 56,009 posts on FreeRepublic, it seems to me most of these "columnists" in the hard-copy press are elementally inadequate.
> US courts don’t do that. Worst penalty is you get fired.
That’s a real shame. You see, if someone lies on their resume (we call resumes “CVs”) and if you rely upon that false information and hire them as a result, they have committed Fraud: the principle in Law is that you may not have hired them except for their deceit. This fraud is of a criminal AND of a civil nature — potentially resulting in imprisonment for the fraudster and in the recovery of damages for you.
New Zealand legal precedent is well-respected worldwide, particularly in the UK and in the US. So there is probably no reason at all why this principle should not apply in the United States.