Date of Award
Summer 8-18-2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Andrew Altman
Second Advisor
George Rainbolt
Third Advisor
William Edmundson
Fourth Advisor
Andrew I. Cohen
Abstract
The First Amendment gives U.S. citizens a Hohfeldian legal immunity that disables Congress from removing citizens’ legal liberty to criticize the government. Any attempt by Congress to remove this liberty would fail, but such an attempt would still wrong citizens. The familiar concept of claim-violation does not fully account for this wrong. Claims name actions that ought not be performed and are violated when those actions are performed. Immunities names actions that cannot be performed. Congress would wrong citizens not by doing something it ought not do but by attempting and failing to do something it cannot do. Using elements of Jean Hampton’s expressive theory of punishment, I analyze Congress’ attempt (and other similar acts) as an expressive act that denies the existence of immunities. Congress’ immunity-“contradiction” would wrong U.S. citizens by denying the value that generates the immunity, by causing damage to the acknowledgement of the citizens’ value, and by threatening the existence of the immunity.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1346217
Recommended Citation
Gero, Jesse, "Moral Injury and the Puzzle of Immunity-Violation." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2010.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1346217