Supreme Court sympathetic to former Playmate

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Rough day for son's lawyer
G. Eric Brunstad Jr., the lawyer for the son, said that a Texas court investigated her claims during a five-month trial and rejected them. He said that Smith had no grounds to bring a separate claim in federal court in California.

He faced tough comments from the justices who seemed hesitant to limit the federal courts’ reach.

“That’s just not the way our system works,” said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman justice who was especially feisty in her questioning.

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“I don’t see your logic,” Souter told Brunstad.

The case requires the court to clarify when federal courts may hear claims that involve state probate proceedings.

About two dozen photographers swarmed Smith and her attorney as they left through a side door of the court building after the hearing, then sped away in a black SUV. She declined to answer questions.

Earlier, when she arrived, several photographers were knocked to the ground in their zeal to get a picture of Smith, dressed in a knee-length dress, high heels and black sunglasses.

$474 million initially given to Smith
Smith was awarded $474 million by a federal bankruptcy judge. That was later reduced by a federal district judge and then thrown out altogether by a federal appeals court on jurisdictional grounds.

Justices seemed ready to overturn the appeals court, although a Supreme Court victory now would not guarantee that Smith will receive any money.

Pierce Marshall said in a statement after the argument that a “decision to return the case to the lower courts still leaves us with numerous other grounds.”

“If necessary, each of those remaining grounds will be pursued vigorously,” he said.

The case is Marshall v. Marshall, 04-1544.

NBC News' Pete Williams, MSNBC's Chief Washington Correspondent Norah O'Donnell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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