Rawls’s idea of public reason and the deliberative model of democracy share certain fundamental premises: both theories view the legitimation of political power and the examination of the justice of institutions to be a public process, open to all citizens to partake in. The idea that the justice of institutions be in the public’s eye,” so to speak, for the public to scrutinize, examine, and reflect upon is fundamental. From the standpoint of a deliberative model of democracy as well this is crucial. Note, however, that there are three significant ways in which the Rawlsian idea of public reason differs from the model of public deliberation proposed earlier. Some of these differences are of a sociological nature; others indicate significant philosophical divergences.