Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Bruce Balter yesterday denied a Transport Workers Union request that would have paved the way for future transit shutdowns.

Good for the judge – who showed respect for the law and for common sense.

The TWU had asked Balter to restore its privilege of collecting dues via deductions from members’ paychecks – a right it lost thanks to its illegal strike of Christmas 2005.

The loss of the “check-off” was to last at least through last August, when the union could regain the right only by pledging never to strike again. That was a reasonable compromise: After all, public-sector unions got the privilege in exchange for their strikes being formally outlawed by the 1967 Taylor Law.

But for Toussaint – who maintains the 2005 shutdown was his union’s “finest hour” – the law has little meaning.

His statement to Balter fell far short of pledging never to strike again; instead, in the judge’s words, it “merely parrots the statutory language.”

It’s worth noting that the judge’s wise ruling came despite the Spitzer administration’s kow-tow to the TWU.

New MTA chief Elliot Sander formally urged restoration of the privilege, and Gov. Spitzer himself favored the TWU’s recovering its check-off powers.

This would have allowed the TWU to continue showing open contempt for the law, demonstrating that illegal strikes pay after all.

The 7 million New Yorkers who ride the subways and buses daily can thank Judge Balter for doing his best to discourage future job actions.