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support those activities in a manner which is, to the maximum extent practicable, consistent with approved state management programs.' 16 U. S. C. §1456(c)(1) (emphasis added).

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In California v. Watt, supra (now sub nom. Clark v. California), the Court will decide whether the Secretary's sale of oil and gas leases is an activity “directly affecting" the coastal zone within the meaning of § 307(c)(1). Unless the Court answers that question in the affirmative, there is no statutory requirement at this stage of the project that the Secretary prepare the "consistency determination" which the District Court deemed inadequate and which formed the basis of its decision to issue the injunction in this case.

Having examined the submissions of the parties, I have decided to stay the preliminary injunction pending this Court's resolution of the question presented in Clark v. California, concluding as I do that in the interim the traditional considerations affecting the award of equitable relief favor the applicants.

It is so ordered.

Opinion in Chambers

MCDONALD v. MISSOURI

ON APPLICATION FOR STAY

No. A-525. Decided January 3, 1984*

464 U. S.

Applications to stay the executions of the four applicants, each convicted in a Missouri state court of capital murder, are granted, where the Missouri Supreme Court, after affirming each conviction and sentence on direct appeal, set the execution in each case on a date within the period for petitioning this Court for a writ of certiorari for direct review of the conviction and sentence.

JUSTICE BLACKMUN, Circuit Justice.

I have before me applications to stay the executions of Samuel Lee McDonald, Leonard Marvin Laws, Thomas Henry Battle, and George Clifton Gilmore, each convicted in a Missouri state court of capital murder and each sentenced to die on January 6, 1984. Their respective convictions and sentences have been affirmed by the Supreme Court of Missouri on direct appeal, State v. McDonald, 661 S. W. 2d 497 (1983); State v. Laws 661 S. W. 2d 526 (1983); State v. Battle, 661 S. W. 2d 487 (1983); State v. Gilmore, 650 S. W. 2d 627 (1983), but review here on such federal grounds as the respective applicants may possess has not yet been had. The execution date in each case has been fixed by the Missouri Supreme Court. See Mo. Rule Crim. Proc. 29.08(d).

In Williams v. Missouri, 463 U. S. 1301 (1983), I granted a stay of execution pending timely filing and disposition of a petition for certiorari on direct review. That case procedurally was similar to these, and the Supreme Court of Missouri there, also, had denied a stay of its mandate. In a short accompanying opinion, I pointed out that, if a federal question is involved, the process of direct review "includes the right

*Together with No. A-526, Laws v. Missouri; No. A-527, Battle v. Missouri; and No. A-531, Gilmore v. Missouri, also on applications for stays of executions.

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to petition this Court for a writ of certiorari,'" ibid., quoting Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U. S. 880, 887 (1983). I specifically stated:

"[I]f a State schedules an execution to take place before filing and disposition of a petition for certiorari, I must stay that execution pending completion of direct review, as a matter of course." 463 U. S., at 1302.

Every defendant in a state court of this Nation who has a right of direct review from a sentence of death, no matter how heinous his offense may appear to be, is entitled to have that review before paying the ultimate penalty. The right of review otherwise is rendered utterly meaningless. It makes no sense to have the execution set on a date within the time specified for that review, see 28 U. S. C. §§ 1257 and 2101; this Court's Rule 20.1, and before the review is completed. I thought I had advised the Supreme Court of Missouri once before, in Williams, that, as Circuit Justice of the Circuit in which the State of Missouri is located, I, upon proper application, shall stay the execution of any Missouri applicant whose direct review of his conviction and death sentence is being sought and has not been completed. I repeat the admonition to the Supreme Court of Missouri, and to any official within the State's chain of responsibility, that I shall continue that practice. The stay, of course, ought to be granted by the state tribunal in the first instance, but, if it fails to fulfill its responsibility, I shall fulfill mine.

Accordingly, in each of the four cases, I grant the application to stay the execution now scheduled for January 6, 1984. Orders are being entered accordingly.

INDEX

ACCESS OF PUBLIC AND PRESS TO VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION
OF JURORS. See Constitutional Law, I.

ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENAS DUCES TECUM. See Constitu-
tional Law, II, 2.

ADVISERS OF INVESTMENT COMPANIES. See Investment Com-
pany Act of 1940.

AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES WARRANTING DEATH SEN-
TENCE. See Habeas Corpus, 2.

AIRLINES. See Airport Development Acceleration Act of 1973.
AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT ACCELERATION ACT OF 1973.

Airlines' gross income-Pre-emption of state tax.-Section 7(a) of Act,
which proscribes state taxes on gross receipts derived from sale of air
transportation, pre-empts Hawaii tax on annual gross income of airlines
operating within State, even though state statute declared tax to be one
on airlines' personal property, which would be permissible under § 7(a).
Aloha Airlines, Inc. v. Director of Taxation, p. 7.

ALIENS. See Collateral Estoppel, 2; Immigration and Nationality
Act.

AMENDED TAX RETURNS. See Internal Revenue Code, 1.

ARSON. See Constitutional Law, II, 1; Criminal Law.

ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 1954.

Injuries from nuclear contamination-Punitive damages-Pre-emption
of state law. An award of punitive damages in an action to recover under
Oklahoma common-law tort principles for contamination injuries suffered
by appellant's decedent while employed in a federally licensed nuclear
plant operated by one of appellees was not pre-empted by federal law,
particularly Atomic Energy Act or Price-Anderson Act. Silkwood v.
Kerr-McGee Corp., p. 238.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. See Habeas Corpus, 2; Stays, 1-6.

CASE OR CONTROVERSY. See Jurisdiction.

CHARACTER EVIDENCE INSTRUCTIONS. See Procedure.

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