Judge Rude-y?

A Bronx
Family Court Judge’s allegedly sharp tongue may cost her her job. The state Commission
on Judicial
Conduct is investigating
Marian R. Shelton for “rude and abusive
behavior towards litigants.” Shelton, 52,
allegedly told one lawyer to “shut up,” told another that he had “mental health
issues,” and told a legal guardian
to “go to therapy.” She also allegedly told a Caribbean
man to “take those stupid things
out of [his] hair” and mocked one lawyer’s
accent. These are just some of the complaints
described in
the commission’s
charges against her.

Shelton
claims the charges are a smear campaign
against her by Dennis
Quirk, the head of the state Court Officers
Association,
which Quirk
denies. Shelton, who
then-mayor Rudy Giuliani
appointed in
1998, has taken a highly unusual step by deciding
to go public with
the upcoming disciplinary
hearings on her conduct and her “nasty battle”
with the court officers’
union; her attorney has been speaking
with reporters about both. Shelton also
called the Judicial
Conduct commission
“ethically challenged.” And she may have a point;
the ethics commission’s
chair is none
other than celebrity divorce
lawyer Raoul Felder, who received
a no-confidence
vote in April
after Schmucks,
a book he wrote with Jackie
Mason came out. Oddly enough, Felder, who counts 50 Cent’s baby
mama among his recent clients, was appointed by soft-spoken former
governor George Pataki. The commission
will hear the case before Shelton’s
term expires on New Year’s Eve.