Ms. Smith Comes To Washington

Word of the day:  greenmail\GREEN-mail\ noun:  the practice of buying enough of a company's stock to threaten a hostile takeover and reselling it to the company at a price above market value; also : the money paid for such stock.

I truly hope Anna wins her case before the U.S. Supreme Court.  While most likely, she will have her case remanded back to the lower court, she will most likely learn she does have a right to have her case heard in the federal circuit.

It is my impression the heirs to her late husbands fortunes are simply doing everything they can to keep her from having what is duly hers under probate and the law.  It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit that the heirs are illegally blocking her inheritance.

It was opined that some of the judges on the bench may not even know who Anna Nicole Smith is other than some pretty blonde.

YOU GO GIRL!

UPDATE:  May 1, 2006

Supreme Court Backs Ex-Playmate's Effort

By GINA HOLLAND

The Associated Press
Monday, May 1, 2006; 10:26 AM

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that one-time stripper and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith could pursue part of her late husband's oil fortune.

Justices gave new legal impetus to Smith's bid to collect millions of dollars from the estate of J. Howard Marshall II. Her late husband's estate has been estimated at as much as $1.6 billion.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court, said Smith should have a fresh chance to pursue claims in federal court.

Smith's case had brought unusual drama to the normally sedate high court.

Dressed in all black, the former stripper wept in the courtroom in late February as justices discussed Marshall and whether he had intended to provide for her in death. When she arrived at the court, several photographers were knocked to the ground in a scuffle to photograph her.

She was a 26-year-old topless dancer when she married Marshall, then 89, in 1994. He died the following year, setting off an intense family fight.

At issue in the legal battle was competing court jurisdiction. A Texas court held a five-month trial before deciding that Smith was entitled to nothing from Marshall's estate. Smith brought a separate claim in federal court in California.

Justices said Monday that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong in ruling that federal courts could not handle Smith's case.