California v. Freeman, 488 U.S. 1311 (1989)

California v. Freeman

No. A-602

Decided February 1, 1989
488 U.S. 1311

ON APPLICATION FOR STAY

Syllabus

California’s application for a stay of enforcement of the State Supreme Court’s judgment reversing respondent Freeman’s conviction for pandering under the California Penal Code pending the disposition of a petition for certiorari is denied. It is unlikely that four Justices would vote to grant certiorari, since the state court’s decision rests on the adequate and independent state law ground that Freeman’s hiring and paying of performers for pornographic films does not constitute pandering under the State Code. The court’s discussion of state law is not interwoven with its discussion of federal law, specifically the First Amendment. Even if this Court were to review the case below and find that the state court had misinterpreted the strictures of the First Amendment, on remand that court would still reverse Freeman’s conviction on state statutory law grounds.