Today, for instance, judicial activism is a constitutional approach mostly associated with liberals, while judicial restraint is a constitutional theory most often connected to conservatism.
It now bans former collaborators from public office and from sensitive jobs; in the judicial system, for instance.
While Almunia's had broad powers at his disposal, able to impose a punishment without judicial approval for instance, the Spaniard made a negotiated settlement a top priority.
(The appointment of someone who has never been a judge is not that unusual: Mr Rehnquist himself had no previous judicial experience, for instance).Both Ms Miers and Mr Roberts have worked extensively in Republican administrations, making Democrats fear that the common element in these nominations is that Mr Bush knows much more about them than the American public does.
To protect the integrity of their court systems, states need to enact basic reforms: switching from judicial elections, for instance, to the selection of judges on merit, or adopting strict rules that bar judges from ruling in cases involving major financial supporters.
But perhaps the most audacious instance of judicial activism is the way the court has extended the doctrine of judicial review itself.
One cannot, for instance, detect "judicial activism" simply by looking at the bottom-line ruling in most cases.
One of the most high-profile detainees – Alaa Abd El Fatah, a secular activist investigated by every regime since Hosni Mubarak – was released on bail on Sunday in a rare instance of judicial clemency.
Although repeated theft can be punishable by amputation of the right hand and aggravated theft by the cross-amputation of a hand and a foot, only one instance of judicial amputation was reported between 2007 and 2010.
In the case of the failed judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada, for instance, Mr. Gonzales blocked members of Congress last year from reviewing Mr. Estrada's earlier work at the Justice Department in the solicitor general's office.
