When a federal district court is called on to approve the settlement of a class action, it rarely, if ever, receives much input from any party that does not have a signifi cant interest in the outcome. The class representative and class counsel want the deal approved so that they can receive its benefits, and, assuming he has not agreed to remain silent, the defendant, too, wants the deal to go forward to bind as many potential claimants as possible. The court, likewise, has a strong institutional interest in disposing of such a case. Only a limited number of unnamed class members are likely to object, and only some of those objections, however strongly felt and expressed, are likely to be helpful to the court when it determines whether the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate....