In the wake of the Muller report, I have seen many debates about what constitutes “obstruction of justice.” Some, like our Attorney General, argue that it requires intentionally trying to stop what one perceives to be a legitimate inquiry (thus Barr’s claim that no obstruction occurred because the president had reason to believe the special counsel’s investigation was a witch hunt). Others say the perception part is unimportant, but that there did need to be intent to stop a legitimate inquiry. Still others argue that intention is irrelevant, as all that matters is whether a reasonable person could anticipate that their action would result in obstruction. In addition, there have been arguments over what counts as an lawful challenge to one’s opponents vs. an underhanded, if not illegal, tactic.
Now would be a good time for the media to initiate a discussion over the definition of justice more broadly. There are many different theories (retributive, restorative, distributive, etc.) and many different applications (criminal, civil, social, political, etc.) of it. I imagine lots of people go through life using the idea of justice they inherited from their family/friends, or following what their emotional/psychological makeup says. But given how important the concept is to every aspect of our lives, it is imperative that everyone consider what attitude we want our society to have towards it. Luckily, many theorists are still writing papers considering how justice should work. Here are some examples.
- Anca Gheaus, “The Feasibility Constraint on The Concept of Justice The Feasibility Constraint on The Concept of Justice,” Philosophical Quarterly, July 2013.
- Alison Jagger, “On Susan Moller Okin’s ‘Reason and Feeling in Thinking about Justice’,” Ethics, July 2015.
- Michael Moehler, “Impartiality, Priority, and Justice: The Veil of Ignorance Reconsidered,” Journal of Social Philosophy, Fall 2016.
- Mathias Risse, “Responsibility and Global Justice,” Ratio Juris, March 2017.
- George Pavlakos, “From a Pluralism of Grounds to Proto-Legal Relations: Accounting for the Grounds of Obligations of Justice,” Ratio Juris, March 2017.
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