What's more, a few high-profile cases notwithstanding, the Court under John Roberts has arguably been less activist overall than under his predecessors as chief justice.
"Over all, she is less activist than average — not by an enormous stretch, but she is basically there in the mainstream," Mr. Yung said.
If judicial activism is defined as the tendency to strike down laws, the court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is less activist than any court in the last 60 years.
These more open lines of communication mean that institutional investors are less dependent on activists to serve as watchdogs for corporate efficiency, performance and governance.
Though executions are less common, the activists say, the judicial system still lacks any kind of independence and miscarriages of justice are still commonplace.Teng Biao, a lawyer who helped form a group opposed to the death penalty, says he gets little public support for his cause, though people react to individual cases of perceived injustice.
In the Philippines activists are less malleable.
Judicial activists are less interested in abortion (on which, they argue, the constitution is silent) than they are in gun rights.
But some activists are less interested in serious debate than in pulling their hair shirts on to the rest of us.
Internet firms such as Reddit and Tumblr provided organisational support, and larger companies were part of the lobbying effort: net-activists are less likely than Greens to shun corporate interests that coincide with their own.
Some activists are less likely to seek a seat in the first place if they know that a board leader is indeed leading the board, and that the board is no longer a passive player or pawn of management.
