Joseph Stamler
| Joseph Stamler | |
|---|---|
Judge Joseph Howard Stamler
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| Judge of the New Jersey Superior Court |
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In office 1966–1973 |
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| Appointed by | Governor Richard J. Hughes |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Joseph Howard Stamler November 19, 1911 Elizabeth, New Jersey |
| Died |
October 16, 1998 Stony Creek, Connecticut |
| Alma mater |
Harvard University Cornell University |
| Occupation | Judge (1966–1973) Attorney Professor of Law |
Joseph Howard Stamler (November 19, 1911 – October 16, 1998) was a New Jersey Superior Court Judge and professor at Rutgers University.
Graduating from Cornell University in 1933 and Harvard Law School in 1935, Stamler started his law career in private practice.
Teaching law at Rutgers University, he also served on numerous legal boards. Stamler practised mainly in the Chancery and Federal courts and gave up a thriving 30-year-old practice when Gov. Richard J. Hughes named him to Superior Court.
His legal career was interrupted by service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. As a warrant officer, he skippered an air-sea rescue craft in the North Atlantic, receiving commendations for his service.
Stamler handled novel impression cases with no clear legal precedents to guide him, touching on social issues like religion in the classroom, airport noise and sex education. His most celebrated case involved the school board of Netcong, N.J., which had a policy providing for daily school readings of prayers published regularly in the Congressional Record, as delivered by Congressional chaplains at the start of the day.
Attendance at these readings was voluntary, and the board said they were inspirational remarks, rather than prayer in the schools, but Judge Stamler nevertheless ordered the practice stopped in 1970.
By discounting "beautiful prayers" as "remarks", the board tried to "peddle religion in a very cheap manner under an assumed name", he wrote, adding, "This type of subterfuge is degrading to all religions." The State Supreme Court unanimously agreed, and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the school board's ultimate appeal.
Another Stamler opinion with national resonance came in an airport case in 1969, when he limited the hours for jet landings and takeoffs at Morristown Airport. Suit had been brought by four neighboring towns and six residents fed up with the engine noises of corporate jets at night and early in the morning.
The judge refused to allow the National Business Aircraft Association, the Air Transport Association and 12 large carriers to intervene in the case. "Perhaps the time has arrived," he wrote, "when the giants of industry will see the wisdom of slowing the cross-country speed of their important executives, and will take a close, concerned look at the little people of this country." They are the ones "who, by their purchases, contribute to industry's growth," he added in an order that soon echoed in courthouses elsewhere.
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