Is this what they mean by "activist judges"?

Borrowed from quaoar:

Here's some encouraging news for those who think the South is a lost
cause to the Democratic Party. Five Republican judges have switched
to the Democratic Party in Alabama.

Yes, that's right, Alabama -- home of Sen. Jefferson Beauregard
Sessions III and Roy Moore.

Seems the stench of a dying party has managed to find its way all the
way into the Heart of Dixie.

Four of the five judges are from Jefferson County, which is the
largest county in the state and includes Birmingham. The fifth is from
Montgomery County, where the state capitol is located. Additionally,
former state Rep. Johnny Ford of Tuskegee, a rare black Republican in
Alabama, is rejoining the Democratic Party after having switched to
the GOP several years ago.

Jefferson County is a mixture of Democratic black-majority Birmingham
and very Republican suburbs that surround it. The suburbs are the sort
of place where you can still find W stickers and McCain/Palin stickers
proudly displayed on bumpers.

Obama actually carried Jefferson County 52% to 47%, which was
something of a surprise because even though Birmingham is
black-majority it is outnumbered by the white suburbs.

So these judges switching is not as big of an earth-shaking event as
if judges from Shelby or Baldwin County had switched, but it is a
telling sign.

For more than 20 years the trend has been in the opposite direction --
local officials switching en masse to the GOP, following not just the
voters but the fundraising prowess of the GOP. That is starting to
change.

So join me in welcoming Judges Virginia Vinson, Dan King, Eric
Fancher, Sheldon Watkins and William Shashy as Alabama's newest
Democrats.