Corsetti v. Massachusetts

ON APPLICATION FOR STAY No. A-226. Decided September 1, 1982 An application to stay, pending review on certiorari, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s judgment affirming applicant’s conviction for criminal contempt and his 90-day sentence is denied. Although appli- cant has demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm, he has not demonstrated that the balance of equities in his favor is sufficient to overcome the strong doubt that certiorari will be granted or, in any event, that the judgment below will be reversed. Justi ce Brenna n , Circuit Justice. Applicant has applied to me for a stay, pending this Court’s review on certiorari, of the judgment of the Massachu- setts Supreme Judicial Court affirming applicant’s conviction of criminal contempt in the Massachusetts Superior Court and of the 90-day sentence imposed for such contempt. 387 Mass. 1, 438 N. E. 2d 805 (1982). The principles that control my determination as Circuit Justice of this in-chambers application were stated, in perti- nent part, in Rostker v. Goldberg, 448 U. S. 1306, 1308 (1980) (Brennan , J., in chambers): “Relief from a single Justice is appropriate only in those extraordinary cases where the applicant is able to rebut the presumption that the decisions below—both on the merits and on the proper interim disposition of the case—are correct. ... In a case like the present one, this can be accomplished only if a four-part showing is made. First, it must be established that there is a ‘rea- sonable probability’ that four Justices will consider the issue sufficiently meritorious to grant certiorari.... Second, the applicant must persuade [the Circuit Jus- tice] that there is a fair prospect that a majority of the Court will conclude that the decision below was errone-