 By grounding public reason in an account of how coercion can be suitably respectful, this view limits the scope of public reason in ways that may seem troubling. Not all laws and political institutions are coercive, and yet some noncoercive political institutions may seem appropriate topics of public reason. For example, which forms of marriage, if any, ought to be granted legal recognition, or how the proceeds of a state-run lottery ought to be spent, might seem important topics of public reason, but fall outside the scope of public reason on this basis (Bird 2014; Quong 2013). A related worry is this: if coercive actions uniquely stand in need of public justification, then this may make it difficult, or even impossible, for the state to legitimately pursue many goals that are widely perceived to be permissible (Lister 2010; Lister 2013).