diff --git a/Lib/http/cookies.py b/Lib/http/cookies.py
index c36c494..9e51b67 100644
--- a/Lib/http/cookies.py
+++ b/Lib/http/cookies.py
@@ -434,6 +434,8 @@
     (?P<val>                       # Start of group 'val'
     "(?:[^\\"]|\\.)*"                # Any doublequoted string
     |                                # or
+    \w{3},\s[\w\d-]{9,11}\s[\d:]{8}\sGMT  # Special case for "expires" attr
+    |                                # or
     """ + _LegalCharsPatt + r"""*    # Any word or empty string
     )                              # End of group 'val'
     \s*;?                          # Probably ending in a semi-colon
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_http_cookies.py b/Lib/test/test_http_cookies.py
index 43ca9f5..b008e0f 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_http_cookies.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_http_cookies.py
@@ -76,6 +76,16 @@
         # can't test exact output, it always depends on current date/time
         self.assertTrue(C.output().endswith('GMT'))
 
+        # loading 'expires'
+        C = cookies.SimpleCookie()
+        C.load('Customer="W"; expires=Wed, 01-Jan-2010 00:00:00 GMT')
+        self.assertEqual(C['Customer']['expires'],
+                         'Wed, 01-Jan-2010 00:00:00 GMT')
+        C = cookies.SimpleCookie()
+        C.load('Customer="W"; expires=Wed, 01-Jan-98 00:00:00 GMT')
+        self.assertEqual(C['Customer']['expires'],
+                         'Wed, 01-Jan-98 00:00:00 GMT')
+
         # 'max-age'
         C = cookies.SimpleCookie('Customer="WILE_E_COYOTE"')
         C['Customer']['max-age'] = 10