ABSTRACT
The idea that a just society is one in which even speech may be regulated in order to protect the rights of other citizens can be motivated via the example of the right to reputation. This chapter is devoted to critically examining this alternative approach to the theory of reputation, dignity, and hate speech law. Waldron insists that hate speech law functions not merely to protect vulnerable minorities against group libel and the concomitant public denials of their civic dignity, but also to provide an important public good: namely, the 'assurance' of civic dignity. A claim to originality in Waldron's approach rests in his account of assurance. The implication is that eligibility for civic dignity depends not on the actual possession of the capacity for a high and equal sociolegal status but instead on the potential to develop that capacity in the future. One of the features of civic dignity, namely, citizenship, might attract a related criticism.
