Nozick on blackmail

In Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Robert Nozick endorses the prohibition of blackmail even though such a prohibition seems to contravene his overall libertarian commitments. This essay explicates this endorsement of the prohibition of blackmail as an instance of Nozick’s thesis that morally problematic actions that fall short of violating rights may nevertheless be forbidden if they are sufficiently problematic and due compensation is paid to the party who suffers that prohibition. However, an examination of the specific argument that Nozick makes for blackmail being sufficiently problematic to justify its prohibition reveals implications of that argument with which Nozick should be very uncomfortable.