A New York judicial ethics body on Thursday censured a trial court judge for misusing her staff as babysitters and chauffeurs and for repeatedly asking her employees to pray with her.

"Judge Brigantti-Hughes called upon her subordinates to perform personal tasks more than occasionally in non-emergency circumstances, and she repeatedly crossed a line with sincere but inherently coercive invitations to religious activities, all of which require public discipline," said the head of the New York State Commission on Judicial...