The first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor, will sit on the federal appeals court in Boston for two days next week and hear arguments in about a dozen cases, including one from Rhode Island.

O’Connor, who retired from the high court in 2006, is sitting by designation on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the invitation of a federal judge from Rhode Island, Bruce M. Selya.

On Monday and Tuesday, O’Connor will handle the regular calendar of cases, including one involving a dispute over property in Barrington.

Selya, a senior 1st Circuit judge who lives in Providence, said he got to know O’Connor when she received an honorary degree at Brown University in 1996, and he first invited her to hear 1st Circuit cases about a year ago.

“We use visiting judges from time to time because we are short-handed, and having a jurist of her caliber and reputation would be quite an achievement for our court,” Selya said.

Also, he said, “I think she represents the very best qualities of the judicial system and is, in a real sense, a national treasure. I thought we ought to show her off and give people in New England a chance to see her up close and personal, and give our lawyers a chance to argue in front of her.”

Deputy Circuit Executive Susan J. Goldberg explained that if a need is established, federal judges from the Supreme Court, circuit courts and district courts can sit by designation on appellate courts such as the 1st Circuit. And the 1st Circuit has been short-handed since Selya assumed senior status on Dec. 31, 2006, she said.

The court regularly uses visiting judges from other circuits and from district courts within the 1st Circuit, Goldberg said. But the 1st Circuit has never had a visiting judge as well known as O’Connor, she said, agreeing that O’Connor is probably the most widely known judge in the country.

Besides being the first female Supreme Court justice, O’Connor was for many years the pivotal vote on the high court, and she has traveled extensively, making her well known in other parts of the world, Goldberg said.

“It’s just a great honor for our court,” Goldberg said. “We are thrilled to have her. Not only has she agreed to sit with us, but she is spending an hour with the staff in the afternoon.”

Selya said that since retiring, O’Connor has heard federal appeals at least one other time — when she sat as a member of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

On Monday, O’Connor will hear cases as part of a three-judge panel, along with Selya and 1st Circuit Chief Judge Michael Boudin, of Massachusetts. On Tuesday, O’Connor will listen to arguments along with Judge Juan R. Torruella, of Puerto Rico, and Judge Sandra L. Lynch, of Massachusetts. The 1st Circuit hears appeals from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Puerto Rico. O’Connor will probably end up writing about four decisions.

Monday’s calendar includes the Rhode Island case of James H. Reyelt v. William B. Danzell and Louisa F. Beenker Danzell. The appeal stems from a decision issued in Providence in September 2007 by Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux.

“This is a contract dispute between the seller and the buyers of real property located at 10-12 Payne Road, in Barrington,” Lagueux wrote in the decision. The two sides entered into a purchase-and-sale agreement, and the closing took place in October 2003.

An ensuing dispute resulted in a federal lawsuit, and after a two-day bench trial, Lagueux issued his ruling, saying, “In short, defendants are liable to pay only $100,000 plus interest pursuant to the rider and promissory note, rather than the $200,000 plus interest claimed by plaintiff.”

O’Connor, 78, grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona and graduated from Stanford University and its law school. She was an Arizona state senator from 1969-75 and a judge in Arizona from 1975-81. In 1981, President Reagan nominated her to the Supreme Court to replace Potter Stewart.

“Few associate justices in history dominated a time so thoroughly or cast as many deciding votes as O’Connor — on important issues ranging from abortion to affirmative action, from executive war powers to the election of a president,” Jeffrey Toobin wrote in his 2007 book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.

“She had an uncanny ear for American public opinion, and she kept her rulings closely tethered to what most people wanted or at least would accept,” Toobin wrote. “No one ever pursued centrism and moderation, those passionless creeds, with greater passion than O’Connor. No justice ever succeeded more in putting her stamp on the law of a generation.”

In 2006, O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court to have the flexibility to care for her husband, who has Alzheimer’s disease. President Bush nominated Samuel A. Alito Jr. to succeed her, leaving one woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on the nine-member high court. Last year, USA Today quoted O’Connor as saying, “I was very disappointed that the vacancy I created was not filled by a woman, because it caused the percentage of women on the court to drop by 50 percent.”

O’Connor has remained active since retiring, traveling to places such as Beijing and Prague, and speaking out on issues such as judicial independence. “Elected officials routinely score cheap points by railing against the ‘elitist judges,’ who are purported to be out of touch with ordinary citizens and their values,” O’Connor wrote in an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal. “Though these attacks generally emit more heat than light, using judges as punching bags presents a grave threat to the independent judiciary.”

efitzpat@projo.com