Courts

Check Out The Stones On Chief Justice Marshall! Seriously, A Museum Has His Kidney Stones On Display

When you're in Philadelphia, be sure to check out Marshall's kidney stones. Or not.

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Why?

The Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia collects a number of oddities from the twisted medical history of Philadelphia. If you’re touring the city, it’s a wonderful place to stop and grab lunch and then lose it checking out the exhibits. There’s a 40 lb. colon and a horn that a woman grew. It’s a cornucopia of horrors you can never unsee.

Earlier this week, Emily Kelchen wrote a piece for the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Nonresident Lawyers Blog about her adventure at the museum and how they pulled her aside to show her John Marshall’s kidney stones for some God awful reason.

The jurist responsible for Marbury v. Madison — the decision that, whatever Rudy Giuliani tells you, does not make impeachment unconstitutional — had some kidney stones removed in Philadelphia and these folks kept them for our entertainment. This is the best picture available.

Kelchen advises:

If you want to see the stones in person, I recommend calling ahead to make sure they haven’t been loaned out to another institution, and asking a staff member to show you where they are.

Which esteemed institution is going to be borrowing these exactly?

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While this is all so very very gross, it drives home that as hard as it may be to believe, 200 years from now someone will be admiring curious artifacts from our current justices like Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s broken hip or Sonia Sotomayor’s Yankee caps or Brett Kavanaugh’s booze calendars. What an era!

Legal Tourism: You Too Can See Chief Justice John Marshall’s Kidney Stones [Nonresident Lawyers Blog]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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