O'Connor to hear cases as visiting judge to Hub court
Ex-justice to serve US appeals court
She left the nation's highest court two years ago, but retired US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor evidently still likes to hear lawyers make arguments before her.
And where better than Boston to watch members of the bar mix it up?
O'Connor is scheduled to serve as a visiting judge today on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, said Susan Goldberg, deputy circuit executive.
Judge Bruce M. Selya, one of six judges on the court, invited O'Connor to hear arguments in about a dozen cases, in part because the court has a heavy caseload, Goldberg said.
O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a crucial swing vote for many years, retired in 2006 after 24 years.
The 78-year-old former justice has served as a visiting judge on federal appeals courts elsewhere, including those based in New York and St. Louis.
She will sit on two three-member panels during her work in Boston and will probably write several opinions. She is also expected to meet with staff of the appellate court.
"I'm thrilled," Goldberg said. "She's probably one of the primary role models for all women lawyers today. She's been a really important member of the Supreme Court, and she's just an admirable person all around."
In the fall, O'Connor made headlines for her response to her husband's romance with another woman. Her husband, John O'Connor, suffers from Alzheimer's disease and lives in an assisted-living center. Sandra Day O'Connor visited the new couple and said she was relieved that her husband of 55 years seemed so happy.
Correction: Because of an editing error, a story in Tuesday's City & Region section about Sandra Day O'Connor, a retired US Supreme Court justice, misstated when she will be serving as a visiting judge on the US Court of Appeals in Boston. She is scheduled to hear cases with the court on Monday and Tuesday, May 5 and 6.
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