New Principles
(Malik Speaking)

 
 
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I'm not entirely convinced that we should regard rights are side constraints in your sense. I agree that a small gain in utility or welfare does not justify overriding a right. But it seems to me that we must think of rights in a context of competing moral concerns. In some cases these concerns will justify overriding the right in question. I can think of two kinds of cases:

Instead of thinking of rights as side constraints, I agree with those philosophers who have understood rights as prima facie restrictions that may be overridden by other moral considerations. This means that we must think of the exercise of a right in its full context in order to determine whether it is justified. This is exactly what the court did not do in considering our speech code.

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