PG-13 
A Bronx judge’s decision to waive confidentiality in her battle with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct led to front page tabloid fodder and ridicule yesterday. Today it continues: The New York Post has a rundown of the charges levied against Family Court Judge Marian Shelton, including her alleged handcuffing of a court clerk's wife because she swore under her breath after her husband was kept late at work. (Shelton eventually dismissed the contempt finding but told the woman, "You will never enter my courtroom again.) "She’s "a f- - -ing lunatic,” state Court Officers Association president Dennis Quirk — whom Shelton blames for holding grudges against her and reporting her to the commission — told the paper yesterday.

Meanwhile, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a short editorial advocating making most judicial disciplinary investigations public. It’s what Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and the Commission on Judicial Conduct want, says the paper, which wants the Legislature to address the issue.

 
ACTUAL MALICE?
An alleged recipient of former Brooklyn Democratic Party honcho Clarence Norman’s largesse had his libel claims against The New York Post and the television station New York 1 limited recently, The New York Law Journal reports. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Francois Rivera had sued the Post for four defamatory articles published in 2005 that accused the judge of having paid $50,000 for his seat; NY1 later picked up the story in its "In the Papers" segment. In early August Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Rolando T. Acosta dismissed all of Rivera’s claims against NY1 because the station’s actions didn’t constitute “actual malice” because it was “merely” summarizing the Post’s articles and not corroborating its reporting. "The very nature of the 'In the Papers' feature," Judge Acosta wrote, "seems to be to alert its audience of the existence of the newspaper article without vouching for its veracity, quality of research or the bona fides of its reporters."

 
DELAYS UP NORTH 
The Commission on Judicial Conduct also has its hands full up north, where two judges have been sanctioned, reports The North Country Gazette. Rensselaer City Court Judge Kathleen L. Robichaud was “admonished” — the lowest form of sanction — for a pattern of not issuing timely judgments and decisions on motions, and lying on quarterly reports with the administrative judge, resulting in a “dereliction of responsibilities as a judge.” Robichaud repeatedly delayed in issuing decisions up to nearly two years late. “We view such delays as serious misconduct because of the adverse consequences on individual litigants, who are deprived of the opportunity to have their claims heard in a timely manner, and on public confidence in the administration of justice.”

Meanwhile, Harmony, New York Town Justice Bruce S. Scolton was admonished for similar delays in disposing of small claims cases.

 
30 MILLION TRIPS 
Ah, the pleasures of summer in the city: flash flood warnings, tornadoes, and . . . elevator malfunctions. The New York Times reports that Housing Court Judge Gilbert Badillo has levied a $50,000 fine — one of the largest penalties of its kind — against upper Manhattan landlord Baruch D. Singer, whose building has had 11 elevator violations since 2005. The building’s single elevator is frequently out of service for weeks at a time, and reportedly has a hole in the floor covered by sheet metal. New York City boasts some 56,000 elevators — 9 percent of the nation’s total — and provides around 30 million trips each day, estimated a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, which is cracking down on the top offenders.