Steals from sanctimonious judges (7)
I believe the answer is:
pirates
'steals' is the definition.
(pirating is a kind of stealing)
'sanctimonious judges' is the wordplay.
'sanctimonious' becomes 'pi'.
'judges' becomes 'rates' (rating is a kind of judging).
'pi'+'rates'='PIRATES'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for pirates that I've seen before include "Plagiarists" , "Robbers at sea" , "Copyright infringers" , "Buccaneers" , "Robbers on the high seas" .)