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	The 9th Circuit has issued its latest opinion in favor of E. Pierce Marshall and agasint Anna Nicole Smith. Read More...

A Story To Tell
November 14, 2009
But Thistle's recollections go beyond what was happening inside the border of her hometown. She had a front-row seat to one of the significant eras in the oil industry. That ticket came from her years as secretary to one its major players, J. Howard Marshall, the billionaire oilman who would end his days as tabloid fodder when he married blonde bombshell, Anna Nicole Smith. "It was an education to work for him," Thistle said. "He was a dynamic man. When he wanted something PDQ, it meant yesterday." Thistle started working for Marshall in 1946, when he was president of the then Ashland Oil and Refining Co., brought in by Ashland's founder, Paul G. Blazer. Fresh out of business college, Thistle started in the sales department at Ashland in 1942, quickly getting promoted to Marshall's assistant. "Sometimes he would come in the door dictating. He was very sharp, a keen mind," she said. "He was too smart for Mr. Blazer."... READ MORE

Put 'hot oil' lessons to use in climate policy debate
November 12, 2009
Ickes warned it was imperative to get the energy sector back on a sustainable economic path, noting "without oil, American civilization as we know it could not exist." He first considered setting a price floor for oil, asking Interior Department lawyer J. Howard Marshall II — who would later become an oil titan — to put in place price controls that Marshall had advocated when he was a Yale Law Review editor.... READ MORE

Life and legacy of a Texas oil titan
September 3, 2009
J. Howard Marshall II died 14 years ago. He was 90 years old. Today, most people probably remember him as the rich old oil tycoon who married the buxom celebrity, Playmate, actress, and mother, Anna Nicole Smith, when he was 89 and she was 26. His death led to one of most disputed estate cases in history that continues even today, after the deaths of its primary contestants, Smith and Marshall's son, E. Pierce Marshall. The bizarre twisting of a simple probate matter by the federal courts stands now as a cautionary tale about federal judicial meddling in areas where the judges have little or no expertise. But one can wonder what Marshall's legacy might have been if he had died, say, at age 88. What lessons might his life had taught then? ... READ MORE

Court stays out of Anna Nicole Smith case
March 13, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has turned down a plea for help from the estate of Anna Nicole Smith in a fight over a Texas oil tycoon's fortune.... READ MORE

Court urged to stay out of Anna Nicole Smith case
March 13, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — The widow of the man who fought Anna Nicole Smith over a Texas millionaire's oil fortune is urging the Supreme Court to stay out of a long-running legal battle over Smith's estate.... READ MORE

More Than Anna Nicole Smith's Husband: The Oil-Soaked Life of J. Howard Marshall
March 2, 2009
By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog I suppose the name of J. Howard Marshall will go down in history, as it has in recent popular media, as the late husband of the late Anna Nicole Smith. But he deserves better than that. A relative of his sent me a copy of his autobiography, Done in Oil, published by Texas A&M University Press in 1994, the year when Marshall turned 89. A fascinating book about a fascinating career. ... READ MORE

A Legacy Oil Heir Never Wanted
July 26, 2006
During his life, E. Pierce Marshall shied away from attention, while his stepmother, Anna Nicole Smith, clamored for it. E. Pierce Marshall hated publicity and other people's lawyers. Yet he willingly spent the last 11 years of his life embroiled in courtroom battles for his father's immense fortune against a pack of would-be heirs, including his disinherited brother and his attention-hungry stepmother former stripper and reality-television star Anna Nicole Smith.... READ MORE

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