Breaking: Anna Nicole Smith, Successful Supreme Court Litigant, Has Passed Away
Please observe a moment of silence for one of the most celebrated litigants in the history of the Supreme Court. Anna Nicole Smith was a fascinating personality, and one of the great beauties of our time.
From the Associated Press:
Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate whose bizarre life careened from marrying an octogenarian billionaire to the untimely death of her son, died Thursday after collapsing at a South Florida hotel, one of her lawyers said.Smith, 39, collapsed and was unresponsive while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, said the attorney, Ron Rale. She was rushed to a hospital.
Smith had been a tabloid staple even before she became Playboy’s playmate of the year in 1993. Readers were fascinated by her bombshell good looks, her marriage to an elderly billionaire and subsequent court fight over his estate, her weight fluctuations, and last year, the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith.
A former topless dancer, she made her name squeezing into Guess jeans. She resembled the late actress Marilyn Monroe, a similarity played up in her Guess magazine ads, billboards and department store displays.
But unlike most other "tabloid staple[s]," Smith's significance was legal as well as cultural. How many people can claim to have appeared in both Page Six and U.S. Reports? As the petitioner in Marshall v. Marshall, Anna Nicole Smith helped clarify (1) the scope of the "probate exception" to federal jurisdiction, and (2) its applicability to cases that do not directly involve the administration of a will or estate.
We overuse the word "fabulous" around here. But just like Justice Potter Stewart, "we know it when we see it" -- and Anna Nicole Smith was it. She will be missed, by celebrity and Supreme Court groupies alike.
Update (5 PM): A most interesting comment:
Her ex-husband was a graduate of our host's alma mater -- Yale Law School. That makes her 2 degrees of academic separation from him.J. Howard Marshall was an early figure in the legal realist movement and for a little while, an assistant dean at YLS and a colleague of William O. Douglas.
Anna Nicole Smith dies after collapsing at hotel [Associated Press via New York Daily News]
Marshall v. Marshall [Oyez.org]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Anna Nicole Smith (scroll down)
(35) Comments
I wonder if it had anything to do with all the diet pills she took.
Sad. She seemed so normal.
So young to be taken.
I feel so bad about the fact that there is a little baby with no mom.
Maybe Howard K. Stern really is responsible for Anna's son's death and Anna's death.........
Her ex-husband was a graduate of our host's alma mater - Yale Law School. That makes her 2 degrees of academic separation from him.
Howard Marshall was an early figure in the legal realist movement and for a little while, an assistant dean at YLS and a colleague of William O. Douglas.
She was smart -- didn't go to a tier 2 law school like me.
For what it's worth... my former bankruptcy prof described the Supreme Court's opinion in the Anna Nicole Smith case as "amateur hour".
4:49, you have it right.
As a 3L, I've spent much of the last 2.5 years learning all about probate, bankruptcy, federal jurisdiction, and paternity from Ms. Smith. She has a rightful place in my heart and in the hearts of thousands of other law students. Without her, law school would have been just a little less interesting. Okay, maybe a lot less interesting.
ANS, we'll miss you. We celebrate your reunion with your son, and we mourn your separation from your newborn daughter. Thanks for showing us all that it's never too late to reinvent yourself.
she had huge cans.
of course, what's most ironic about this 10+ year legal battle is that Howard Marshall was a professor at Yale of...Trusts & Estates.
Breaking news!
Anna Nicole Smith dies: leaves all her money to Dechert associates in Philadelphia.
As has been suggested elsewhere, ANS likely killed herself to avoid the public humiliation and firestorm that would have certainly enveloped her once the public learned the results of her recent paternity test -- and the shocking news that her recently deceased son, Daniel, is the father of her recently born daughter, Dannilynn.
4:55 -- He was her LATE husband, not her EX-husband. If he were ex, she probably would not have had standing to litigate against his son re getting a share of his estate. OTOH, if he were her ex-, no doubt the divorce action would have had some complex federal legal aspects to it, knowing her.
5:11 are you serious?
It is too bad that a Tier 2 celebrity, just as a Tier 2 Law Student, bears terrible burdens in life that are only solved by swallowing several large jars of diet pills.
Heaven help us all.
totally. (and by "killed herself" i mean, carelessly consumed dangerous prescription and other drugs without regard to the strong possibility that such consumption might result in her own death.)
5:11 and 5:24, can you give us a link to these rumors that she had a baby with her son?
4:52, not only that, but Howie is actually the alter ego of....
JANET RENO!!
Just Another Candle In The Wind...
She's so outrageous!
She did drugs!!!???!!!
Future episode of Law & Order, baby!
No one's calling 5:05 out? Come one, dude. Seriously? You can't do any better than that?
No one's calling 5:05 out? Come one, dude. Seriously? You can't do any better than that? She just DIED. Give the hormones a rest for .5 seconds.
This is our Princess Di, people!
R.I.P. Anna Nicole.
White girls with Asian guys
My grievous sympathies to Ms. Nicole-Smith's loved ones and to the entire biglaw family. During a tragedy like this we are all equal.
I truly feel bad for Ms. Smith's family. However, they should be glad that they don't go to a Tier 2 law school like me.
In Mourning (5:03 yesterday) - Well said! A fine memorial to ANS - probably the best and most honest eulogy that she will receive. Thank you.
J. Howard Marshall taught Wills & Trusts at YLS. No joke.
That's already noted above (in both Lat's main post and in comments by 4:55 and 5:07).
J. Howard Marshall taught Wills & Trusts at YLS. No joke.
She really was our Princess Di! Both were useless Ho's with serious psycho-bitch streaks, who sucked-up all the way to the top. Fortunately they both fell all the way back down, so at least there is a moral to their stories. Too bad so few see it, or if they do, won't say it!
She really was our Princess Di! Both were useless Ho's with serious psycho-bitch streaks, who sucked-up all the way to the top. Fortunately they both fell all the way back down, so at least there is a moral to their stories. Too bad so few see it, or if they do, won't say it!