Dry court cases make strange bedfellows

January 27, 2006 - We never thought we would see these three entities in the same sentence: the Supreme Court, the Bush administration and Anna Nicole Smith. But Monday, as reported by the Associated Press, the high court approved the U.S. solicitor general's role in the lawsuit brought by the former Playboy playmate and reality-TV star over her late husband's multimillion-dollar estate.

Smith was 26 in 1994 when she married 89-year-old Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall II. Marshall died in 1995 and his son, E. Pierce Marshall, claims to be the sole heir. The issue is over when federal courts should have a say in state probate matters. You could say that dry court cases make strange bedfellows.