US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Reapplication for stay of New Jersey Supreme Court's order declining to stay civil contempt penalties imposed by the New Jersey Superior Court, pending the filing of a petition for certiorari, is denied. The imposition of contempt penalties in order to coerce applicants, a newspaper and one of its reporters, to submit for in camera inspection materials sought by the defendant in an ongoing murder trial, without first making an independent, threshold determination of materiality, relevance, and necessity, likely inhibits the exercise of First Amendment rights and raises a substantial constitutional question. However, it does not appear that four Justices of this Court would vote to grant certiorari at this time.