Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on Wednesday returned for the first time to the federal appellate court on Boston’s waterfront to lob questions at attorneys in four cases, including a constitutional challenge to a cruise ship restrictions ordinance.

Breyer, as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1990 to 1994, was involved in the design of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse 30 years ago.