The Supreme Court added these cases to its docket yesterday for decision in the term starting in October:

Aliens: It agreed to decide whether the federal government may forbid illegal aliens in this country from getting a job unless they first get government permission if they are awaiting decisions on whether they may stay in the country or are to be deported. The government has been trying since 1983 to impose such a rule but has been thwarted in lower courts. Immigration and Naturalization Service vs. National Center for Immigrants' Rights, No. 90-1090.

Mental illness: It agreed to spell out states' power to keep patients in mental hospitals after they regain their sanity, when those patients were committed after being found not guilty of a crime because of insanity. The Louisiana Supreme Court said that such a patient may be held indefinitely, if state officials believe the person may be dangerous. Foucha vs. Louisiana, No. 90-5844.

Water pollution: It agreed to rule on whether downstream states may veto permits to dump pollution into rivers in other states upstream. A federal appeals court gave Oklahoma power to veto a discharge permit for a new sewage treatment plant upstream in Arkansas, even though the federal government had approved that discharge. Arkansas and Environmental Protection Agency vs. Oklahoma, Nos. 90-1262 and 90-1266.