Former Supreme Court justice to hear cases in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be part of a three-judge appellate court panel in St. Louis hearing two high-profile cases next week.

Actually, she'll be hearing a full schedule of cases Monday and Tuesday, but two with national implications are garnering the most attention.

"That's one of the things a retired U.S. Supreme Court justice gets to do, sit with the Circuit Court," said Michael Gans, clerk for the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"She has sat with the second and ninth circuits. Now, she'll be sitting with us."

Chief Judge James Loken extended an invitation to O'Connor last year, and when she agreed to come in February, the court built her into the schedule. Throughout the course of the year, the St. Louis appellate court may use four or five visiting judges.

O'Connor, 76, left the Supreme Court in January 2006 as the nation's first female justice. Retirement has opened other opportunities book writing, law school lectures, appeals court hearings, and most recently, her work with the Iraq Study Group.

One case she'll hear Monday involves a challenge to Missouri election law that opponents say denies voting rights to some who are mentally ill.

Under the Missouri Constitution and state law, those who have a guardian because of "mental incapacity" may not be able to vote...

Anti-discrimination law expert Samuel Bagenstos, a law professor at Washington University, said a dozen states allow for individual assessments of mentally ill people under guardianship.

Thirty states categorically prohibit people under guardianship from voting. One such law, in Maine, was ruled unconstitutional in 2000. ...

•	Former Supreme Court justice to hear cases in St. Louis Associated Press State & Local Wire, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 Byline: Cheryl Wittenauer, Associated Press Writer

	Story also ran in 2 others:  Sprngfield News-Leader.com (MO) and Columbia Daily Tribune )MO)