House votes to remove Taney bust, Confederate statues – By Chris Marquette (Roll Call) / June 29 2021
Taney would be replaced by Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice
For the second straight year, the House voted to remove the bust of the late Chief Justice Roger B. Taney — who authored the infamous Dred Scott decision that held Black people were not U.S. citizens — along with statues and busts of Confederates and white supremacists.
The final vote on Tuesday was 285-120. Sixty-seven Republicans joined 218 Democrats to vote for the measure. The 120 no votes were all Republicans. No Democrats voted against the measure.
Taney would be replaced by another Marylander in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol: Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice. The measure, introduced by House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., would also remove the statues and busts of people who voluntarily served in the Confederacy and other white supremacists, such as John C. Calhoun, a former vice president.
“What we should do today is relegate these statues to the dustbin of history,” Majority Whip James E. Clyburn said. The South Carolina Democrat noted that he met his late wife in jail after protesting racial inequities.
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