 The idea of a public justification is, at its root, an idea about which reasons justify coercion. Public justification is not a process of exchanging reasons. Instead, the exchange of reasons can uncover or generate a public justification. Or we could arrive at a public justification through a non-deliberative route. Examples include bargaining processes and adjudicative procedures. In this way, the ideas of public reason and public justification are distinct. Public justifications might consist of public reasons. But a reason shared by the public might fall short of a sound justification if other reasons undercut or override it. One might, for example, support a new anti-poverty program on shared grounds of justice for the poor. However, alternative programs reduce poverty more effectively. The original poverty program could be publicly justified based on a shared commitment to justice, but other shared reasons, like policy efficacy, can undercut the public justification for the program.