This paper by UNC Professor William Marshall does a nice job of exploring the various meanings of activism.  It is not the paper quantifying the issue, which I am still hoping to find.  I will also try to find a pdf of this article if anyone wants one and post it.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=330266 


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Paul Finkelman, Ph.D.
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208

518-445-3386 (p)
518-445-3363 (f)

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www.paulfinkelman.com
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From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edward D Ragan [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] STATE'S RIGHTS ON THE COMEBACK

Finkelman, you rock. This is a great piece of information. Has this
research been summed up in a single source?
Best,
Ed Ragan

On Sep 11, 2009 10:00am, Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> By every measure of judicial activism, and this has been done by
> political scientists who are in effect only looking at outcomes -- not
> substance -- the most "activist" justices on the Court in the last 50s
> years have been Scalia and Thomas, followed by Rehnquist. They have voted
> to overturn more federal and state legislation than any other justices.

> When people complain about "activist" judges, is this what they have in
> mind?

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