Showing posts with label Chief Justice Roger Taney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chief Justice Roger Taney. Show all posts

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Thurgood Marshall bust to replace bust of author of racist Dred Scott ruling

The House voted Wednesday for a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice, to replace one of the chief justices who wrote the racist 1857 Dred Scott decision denying Black Americans citizenship.

The House passed legislation by voice vote that directs the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove a marble bust from near the entrance to the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol of the former Chief Justice Roger Taney and replace it with one of Marshall.

The bill passed in the Senate last week and will be sent to President Biden’s desk to sign into law. A more expansive version that included the removal of other statues was approved by the House last year but stalled in the Senate.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) introduced the legislation in 2020.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who reintroduced the bill last year, tweeted that while "it's important to know our past, we ought not place those who sought to divide our nation in a place of honor."

"I'm pleased a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, whose commitment to civil rights and the advancement of our most marginalized communities, will be placed in the Capitol to represent the principles of democracy & freedom we cherish today," he added.

[SOURCE: AXIOS]