Anna Nicole Smith Goes to Washington

Feb. 28, 2006 — -- Millions of dollars are at stake for former stripper and Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith. But there are also legal stakes. Her court case will determine whether or not the federal courts trump the state courts that deal with wills and estates.

It all started with the unlikely love story of Smith and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior. Their relationship certainly seemed happy. When he died, he left her with gifts and property worth more than $6 million.

"He was my Prince Charming," Smith said. "I'll never find another Howard."

After he died, the predictable legal battle between Smith and Marshall's son over his other millions turned ugly.

"I'm not a gold digger, or I could have married him a week after we met," Smith said. "I didn't."

After a lengthy probate proceeding in Texas, Smith lost. But a California bankruptcy court gave her a multimillion-dollar award.

"There is absolutely no question in my mind that in terms of the justice she certainly deserves what was intended to be given to her," said Smith's lawyer, Kent Richland.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California later ruled that federal courts had no right to interfere with the work of the state probate court.

"She is alleging that she is entitled to more, beyond what she got and the problem is that J. Howard did not intend her to have more," said Eric Brunstad, the attorney for E. Pierce Marshall, Smith's late husband's son.

It may seem unlikely, but the White House is taking Smith's side. It's concerned about the erosion of federal judicial power.

"It's not particularly surprising that a fight between a former stripper and a millionaire's son is good copy," said Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School. "What is surprising is that this case is going to end up in a dozen casebooks and that Anna Nicole Smith will become the mother of probate law for many generations to come. That's not bad for a stripper."

Smith will be in the audience today as the nine justices of the Supreme Court hear the case.