Is there any reason to believe the reasons behind the ratings aren't at least partially political?

I'm sure there's some, Tim, but remember this: With the exception of the JPs, every single judge you see here is a Republican. If partisan motivations were a big factor, you'd see a lot more judges with high Poor ratings.

Why are the poorly-rated lawyers overwhelmingly women? Is it possible that Texas lawyers don't like women judges? Or is there a reason that women on the bench in Texas appear to be poorer judges than their male counterparts?

JR - Looking at all the judges with higher Poor than Outstanding ratings, I don't know that I'd agree with your statement. It looks pretty evenly split to me, at least among those with names that are clearly to me one gender or the other.

My apologies, I didn't do a careful count- you're correct=

Dear Charles: I am not a blind believer in lawyers opinions about judges nor am I dense enough to think that there are some bad judges amonst the mix. However, 1100+ opinion returns has a few deficits. For one, if we assume that all 1100 appeared before the Judges they rated, then 50% of the responses were from losers. Another reason is that it seems like 1100+ responses mean that many appeared before some judge at sometime. My experience says that is way too many "trial/appellate" lawyers. If some of these lawyers are DA's, it seems to me that the appellate respones are from the same DA's in the appeals department of major DA's office, e.g. Houston. For what it is worth, popularity contests are always of the mark. It would mean more to me if an independent group had rated the judges on their handling of juries and their written decisions. A really dumb judge can hire brains. If you recall, my law clerk was Phi Beta Kappa and a law review. Need I say more.
Here's to an independent judiciary.
Dud

Dad - There were 1100 total respondents, but they only rated the judges they'd appeared before. If you look in the table in the Chron story, the number that appears in parentheses after each judge's name is the number of respondents for that judge. The largest number I see anywhere is 513.

Isn't this like the rank and file rating the strawbosses? Or like inmates rating the guards?

The HBA is presumptuous applying their standards on elected positions that do not require a law degree, such as the candidates and officeholders for JP and County Judge, while ignoring all or most other elected offices in which a law degree does not automatically disqualify the candidate and officeholder.

To JR:

Actually, your opinion is unsupported. The Texas Supreme Court Judge who was rated highest was a woman with a 55% favorable approval rating.

These appointment by Bush are in keeping with the cynical philosophy started with Clarence Thomas. You pick idealogues who are loyal and inadequate, but no one can question their credentials because of their background and minority status.