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Anna Nicole Smith scurried up the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court today in order to observe arguments in her ongoing battle to win the half-billion dollars she insists are coming to her for her full year of wedded devotion to 89-year-old oil tycoon Howard Marshall before his extremely timely death. The issue the Supreme Court is considering specifically involves federal vs. state jurisdiction over bankruptcy law, and believe it or not, the White House is firmly on Smith's side. Says one legal analyst:

"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."

Not bad at all, when you consider the course of U.S. legal history is about to be fought over a woman whose last great accomplishment was wobbily asking a nation if we "Want a Viper? Want some money? Like my body?!" in a series of diet pill ads, to which the busty pitchwoman can now proudly add, "Read my legal precedent-setting case study?! Trim Spa, baby!" before accidentally tumbling out of camera range.