A New York State Supreme Court judge sitting in Brooklyn has been admonished by the state's judicial watchdog after she repeatedly invoked her position on the bench while fighting city sanitation department summonses. Justice Katherine Levine agreed to the discipline handed down by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which found she leaned on her judicial title in disputing the tickets.
What Levine Is Accused Of Doing
According to News 12 Brooklyn, Levine invoked her judicial position repeatedly while contesting the sanitation summonses, prompting the commission's scrutiny. Levine has served as a Supreme Court justice since 2017, per the same outlet's reporting. She agreed to the admonition rather than contest the commission's findings.
Levine's attorney told the station that the investigation has been resolved and that Levine regrets referencing her judicial position in the matter. The statement did not elaborate on how many summonses were involved or how they were ultimately resolved, details that were not addressed in the available reporting.
How Often This Happens Statewide
Cases like Levine's aren't common, but they aren't unheard of either. The state's judicial conduct watchdog has flagged judges before for similar conduct: in 2017, the commission admonished an Acting Supreme Court Justice for twice invoking her judicial office in communications with other courts on behalf of litigants who had pending applications there, according to the NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Complaints against judges in New York have been climbing. The commission received 3,363 new complaints in 2025, up from 3,353 the year before, which was itself a record at the time, as reported by the New York Daily Record. Those complaints led to 141 investigations in 2025, and the commission ultimately handed down 10 formal disciplinary determinations that year: seven censures and three admonitions.
A Small Fraction Face Discipline
Even with thousands of complaints filed annually, formal discipline remains relatively rare. Since 1978, the commission has publicly disciplined 994 judges statewide, and 185 of them were removed from office entirely, the Daily Record's reporting notes. An admonition, like the one Levine agreed to, sits on the lower end of that disciplinary scale, short of censure or removal.
The commission maintains a public record of its determinations, which can be searched by a judge's last name or through its sortable database, according to the agency. The underlying determination detailing the commission's exact findings in Levine's case, including its date and specific wording, was not available in the reporting reviewed for this story.
