Vickie, Howie, Pierce, and Ruth

When I want opinions, I normally go to the Legal Information Institute's web site, but today its server was unaccountably bogged down. Unable to ascertain the facts of the matter, I shall resort to that time-honored journalistic standby, fiction:

It seems that Vickie Lynn (Vickie) married J. Howard Marshall (Howie), a man of a certain age, who died a few months later, albeit with a smile on his face. Thereupon Vickie discovered that she had been excluded from Howie's will and sought legal recompense. Howie's son E. Pierce Marshall (Pierce) countered with a larger lawyer and the case wound its way through the courts. Ultimately Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Ruth), a former Playmate of Vickie's (I'm not entirely certain of this) expressed her opinion that Vickie was right. John Paul Stevens (John) concurred, and said she was darned cute, too.

Had Pierce only married Vickie's mother instead, he could have been his own grandpa.