A Brooklyn judge has been admonished for using her judicial status in an attempt to evade a series of minor trash fines, according to a state ethics board. Judge Katherine Levine spent nearly two years fighting three sanitation violations totaling $150, repeatedly citing her position as a Supreme Court justice to avoid hearings and payment.
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct found that Levine's "unnecessary and repeated references to her judicial office created the appearance that she was inappropriately seeking special treatment." The commission stated that invoking judicial office to avoid fines undermines public confidence in the judiciary and suggests judges are exempt from rules that apply to everyone.
The issues began in March 2024 when sanitation workers found a significant accumulation of trash in the driveway of Levine's home. Instead of paying the initial $50 fine, she submitted an online plea stating, "I am a supreme Court Justice in Kings County and went to work at 10 am." The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) found her guilty, but she did not pay the fine.
In the following spring, Levine received two more fines for failing to secure lids on her trash receptacles. She did not respond to these tickets until the fall of 2025. In a voicemail left for the administrative court, she stated, "Hi this is Judge Katherine Levine," and added, "I have trials every day in Supreme Court." She argued that she could not attend hearings at OATH due to her demanding judicial schedule.
Levine continued to assert that she was "a supreme court justice with trials and cannot sit a whole day at OATH for a hearing," according to the commission's findings. She also wrote in an email from her official judicial account, "I cannot come down and sit in OATH for 10 hours as I am a trial judge in Supreme Court," demanding to know how to pay the accumulated balance, which had risen from the original $50 ticket due to missed hearings.
OATH informed Levine that it does not offer settlements and that she was required to follow its rules like everyone else. In response to a demand to settle a $650 balance, she wrote that she was "a supreme court justice and I vacate default judgments all the time in the name of equity and justice."
Levine, who has served as a judge since 2008 and previously had a clean disciplinary record, expressed remorse and embarrassment for her actions. Her lawyer stated that she regrets referencing her position and was candid and cooperative with the investigation. The fines have since been paid. The commission agreed that an admonition was an appropriate consequence for her conduct.