Anna Nicole Smith Returns to the Supreme Court

Robert Alt / October 04, 2010

Today is “first Monday,” the beginning of the Supreme Court’s 2010 term. With the beginning of the term comes a flurry of cases added to the docket for the year. These additions form a significant portion of the select few cases that the Court chooses to hear during the course of the term: less than 100 out of more than 10,000 vying for review. Among the cases that the Court added to the docket late last week is Stern v. Marshall—the unending case of Anna Nicole Smith (actually her estate) against her deceased husband’s deceased son’s estate.

As the last sentence suggests, this case has dragged on for so long that everyone directly involved in it have shuffled off this mortal coil. (Ironically, Howard K. Stern, a man who is currently on trial charged with conspiring to provide excessive prescription drugs to the known addict Smith, is the executor of Smith’s estate, and as such is the named party in the litigation.) As another indication of the duration of this litigation, this will be the second time that the Supreme Court has heard this case! For the sake of maintaining a proper, constitutionally limited role for bankruptcy courts, and to promote requisite certainty for probate decisions, the Court would be well advised—I never thought I would say these words—to affirm the Ninth Circuit’s well-reasoned decision. (more…)