Activist Judges or Judgmental Activists?

I've avoided most of the gay marriage stuff because I think it's largely a non-issue. San Francisco's issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples is a great step ahead for civil rights, but it was inevitable. I suppose that, because it doesn't have an effect on me personally, I can't really feel that happy, because I suspect that opponents will eventually find a way to stop it and render the licenses useless. That, and the fact that the country is facing much larger problems at the moment, like a worthless war and a for-shit economy.

But, one thing that bothers me is Bush's use of a term - I'm not sure if this has become another word to add to the Conservative Newspeak Lexicon or what, but I've heard it before. "Activist judges." Apparently, activist judges are bad. I'm not sure exactly what an activist judge is or what it's supposed to be in Conservative Newspeak, but an activist is, basically, someone involved in activism (which is generally taken to mean using direct action to support a cause, according to Dictionary.com). And a judge interprets the law. Doesn't write the laws, doesn't enforce the laws, interprets and upholds the laws.

So what exactly is an activist judge? It sounds like a Republican't Newspeak term for a judge who puts their own personal political agendas ahead of actual interpretation of the law, or at least that's what the term implies. In fact, applying the label to someone automatically begins those kinds of associations - although someone may repeat the phrase and not realize exactly what it means, there is the underlying connotation of a judge placing politics and personal feelings above his or her responsibilites. Is this accurate? Possibly, but if that were the case then the Supreme Court that ruled on Roe v. Wade would be comprised of activist judges (I wager that many Republican'ts wouldn't deny that), but so would the Supreme Court that ruled the death penalty was not cruel and unusual punishment, allowing states like Texas to fry retarded people with the IQ of a 5-year-old.

In the spirit of Republican't Newspeak, I seriously doubt we'll ever hear the term applied to that Court, but it sure sounds good when you're slinging mud around about irrelevant topics in an election season.