LEAD: The Supreme Court ruled that indigent inmates on death row do not have a right to a lawyer to help them in a second round of appeals.

Christmas came early for eight indigent inmates awaiting trial when a Long Island real-estate developer bailed them out of the Nassau County jail.

Last week, they said nothing in it required any state to provide counsel for indigent death-row inmates appealing beyond a first direct appeal in state court.

The lawyers, from Prisoners' Legal Services of New York, a nonprofit agency that represents indigent inmates, have filed suit against the state in Federal District Court in Syracuse.

The issue by its nature remains fraught with controversy and is raising some troubling questions, particularly about the legal representation available to indigent inmates for lengthy appeals.

Two years ago, an Iowa attorney named John Mallard was asked by a Federal court to defend indigent inmates who had accused prison officials of mistreatment.

One amendment to the bill requires courts to provide lawyers for indigent inmates; another allows inmates who pleaded guilty to request testing.

The Supreme Court ruled today, 5 to 4, that indigent inmates on death row do not have a constitutional right to a lawyer to assist them in a second round of state court appeals.

Last year, as an amendment to a major anti-drug bill, Congress passed a law requiring that indigent inmates on death row be provided with appointed lawyers for collateral appeals in Federal court.

In another 5-to-4 ruling, the Court held that indigent inmates on death row do not have a constitutional right to a lawyer to assist them in a second round of state court appeals.