WASHINGTON - An elderly woman who fled the Nazis is asking the Supreme Court
to help her get back $150 million worth of paintings stolen from her family
65 years ago in Austria.

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

The court announced Tuesday that it would decide if Maria Altmann can sue
the Austrian government in U.S. courts. It is one of a group of appeals the
court added to cases to be heard in the new term that begins next week.

The Austrian case raises a technical issue about when foreign governments
can be sued in U.S. courts over old disputes. The details of the case,
however, are striking: a wealthy Austrian family whose belongings were
pillaged by the Nazis, their flight to safety and their long-distance effort
to reclaim their property.

Altmann, an 87-year-old widow who lives in Los Angeles, wants the return of
six Gustav Klimt (news - web sites) paintings, including two colorful,
impressionistic portraits of her aunt.

"The Supreme Court is here to do justice. And in this case justice would be
that we would get returned what was taken from us," she said in a telephone
interview Tuesday. "This is the first time I've had anything to do with the
U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites). It's a great honor, but on the other
hand I'm a little scared."

Courts in California have said she can sue the Austrian Gallery and the
Austrian government in the United States. Austria appealed to the high court
to stop the suit.

At issue is what to do with disputes predating a 1952 U.S. government policy
that shielded some countries from lawsuits while allowing suits against some
foreign government commercial ventures.

Scott P. Cooper of Los Angeles, one of Austria's lawyers, had told justices
the case was important for U.S. foreign relations.

"The diplomatic ramifications of a United States court holding that Austria,
a nation friendly to the United States, must appear in a United States court
to answer charges that it is actively advancing Nazi war crimes in
connection with a matter of extreme domestic importance to Austria, cannot
be understated," Cooper wrote.

He said pending cases involving France, Japan and Poland would be affected.

Cooper said it only made sense for the dispute to be settled in Austria,
where the art is. Historical documents, written in German, are also there.

Altmann's aunt, who died in 1925, had asked that the art be donated to the
state gallery, but her uncle, who died in exile in Switzerland in 1945,
specified that his possessions should go to Altmann and two other family
members. Altmann is the only one of the three still living.

The paintings by Klimt, founder of the Vienna Secession art movement,
include two of Altmann's aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, a portrait of the aunt's
close friend and three landscapes.

Altmann said she would like them to hang in museums in America and Canada.
She plans to attend the Supreme Court's argument in the case, likely in
February or March.

"If I'm alive and well I will come," said Altmann, who turns 88 in February.
"I just certainly hope that the court will decide what is right."