Joseph Howard Stamler (November 19, 1911 – October 16, 1998) was an American lawyer and judge who served for seven years in New Jersey Superior Court, as well as a professor of law at Rutgers University.
He entered private practice after being admitted to the bar, with a five-year break during World War II, when his activities included serving with the United States Navy as the captain of a ship that performed air-sea rescue duty in the North Atlantic.
Active in his hometown, Stamler argued successfully before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of the city in a 1958 case in which Summit was given approval to build low-income housing in the face of opposition from residents who were against the plan.
[2] Reflecting on his legal career after he had announced his retirement from judicial service, he cited the case as one that he was proudest of handling, saying that it was a matter in which the city had sought to provide affordable housing to residents "before it became the thing to do".
[1] Stamler's curfew, prohibiting takeoffs or landings by jets after 9:00 PM and before 7:00 AM most days and limiting flights by jets to a two-hour window on Sundays, was overturned by Superior Court Judge Gordon L. Brown who found Stamler's curfew to be in conflict with a decision made by the United States Supreme Court earlier that year in the case of City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc. in which the court rejected a similar curfew imposed by the city of Burbank, California on Hollywood Burbank Airport limiting overnight flights on the basis of the fact that airports were subject to federal oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration under the terms of the Noise Control Act of 1972.
[8] Stamler rejected a proposal for a six-day rock festival to be held in the summer of 1970 on a 400-acre (160 ha) site in Walpack Township in Sussex County, leading to the passage of standards for similar events that requires planning for traffic and safety between the organizers and local authorities, and sets limits on duration.
[2][9] In March 1971, Stamler allowed a suit challenging a mandatory sex education curriculum at Parsippany-Troy Hills School District by Roman Catholic parents who argued that the program violated their First Amendment rights to free exercise of their religion.