Roger Taney was the Supreme Court justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision, one of the worst decisions in the history of the Court. Its ruling upheld slavery. Taney’s bust will be replaced by a bust of Thurgood Marshall.
The House gave final passage to legislation to replace the bust of Roger Taney, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision, in the Capitol with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black person to serve on the high court.
The notorious 1857 Dred Scott decision upheld slavery and established that Black people were not U.S. citizens. The legislation, which passed Wednesday and now heads to President Biden’s desk, says the bust is “unsuitable for the honor of display to the many visitors to the Capitol.”
The statue of Taney sits at the entrance of the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol where the Supreme Court met from 1810 to 1860. Taney, the fifth chief justice, led the court from 1836 to 1864.
“While the removal of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney’s bust from the Capitol does not relieve the Congress of the historical wrongs it committed to protect the institution of slavery, it expresses Congress’s recognition of one of the most notorious wrongs to have ever taken place in one of its rooms, that of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney’s Dred Scott v. Sandford decision,” the legislation says.
“Taney’s ruling denied Black Americans citizenship, upheld slavery, and contributed, frankly, to the outbreak of the Civil War,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said on the U.S. House floor on Wednesday. “That’s why I and so many others advocated for his statue’s removal from the Maryland State House.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Was it a roll call vote? If so, can you post?
Good question. I will look for the answer about whether there was a roll call vote. I bet lots of the GOP opposed it.
I believe decisions about Statuary Hall are made by each state delegation.
This just in: Supreme Court rules in favor of changing its name to “Defenders of the Faith”
Sorry, that was The Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
Historical question: Did Taney Dred Scott decision tip attitude in the North toward civil war as opposed to simple union dismemberment? Did the fugitive slave act, followed by the Dred Scott decision, coming as it did during Bleeding Kansas, give the populace the notion that the new nation to the south would be fundamentally antagonistic to the idea of the United States?
Did Taney Dred Scott decision tip attitude in the North toward civil war as opposed to simple union dismemberment?
Very few forsaw a war …. a dissolution, the Congress from 1840-60 was bitterly divided, physical confrontations in the Congressional chambers frequent (See Joanne Freeman);s book
Did the fugitive slave act, followed by the Dred Scott decision, coming as it did during Bleeding Kansas, give the populace the notion that the new nation to the south would be fundamentally antagonistic to the idea of the United States?
By the 1860 presidential election the nation was moving toward disunion, the 1860 election was a 4-way race …. no one saw a Civil War that cost 600,000 lives and lasted four years
Ed in the Apple,
The vote to remove the bust of RogerTaney was a voice vote, no roll call.
The removal of Taney’s statue and replacement with the bust of Thurgood Marshall is necessarily symbolic justice and art.
To understand why, beyond the language of Taney’s decision, look up the sculpture of Dred and Harriet Scott outside the “Old Courthouse” in St. Louis. Look into their eyes. The depth, meaning, and emotion of their story, the nation’s story, come to life and light.
I bet Clarence Thomas is upset.
He has been citing Taney’s Dred Scott decision to support his own recent
opinions.
Clarence Thomas has a strange ideology. He opposes policies that benefit Black people as well as the Supreme Court decision that enabled him to marry his wife.
And his wife was trying to get the electronic going results overturned.
Quite the all American couple those two.
Election results
Should have taken him out with the Taney bust.
Roberts too, and Alito and Gorsuch and Coney-Barret and special K.
Did I miss anyone?
They should put them in the basement of some museum where they can actually do something useful — like gathering dust.
Good!
It is good to be able to laugh. Thanks all.
Here is another joke .This had been my CD for 45 years. It would still be had I not been redistricted out of it by Cuomo appointed (Republican ) Judges. (its complicated). Thanks Andrew I am not sure whether you did me a favor .
This is the 4th wealthiest CD in the Nation . Not rural Alabama, Georgia or Mississippi where we come to expect the the Roy Moore’s and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s . A Congressional District with some of the “best performing” schools in the Nation . So much for test scores.
Meet our new Congressman . “Heck of a Job” NY Times, a month late.
Well if he is a fraud, he actually is and embodiment of the American Dream: Get rich with any means necessary at other peoples expense.
The NY Times was probably paid by the Republican party to keep quiet until after the election.
These things are not just slip ups.
All the news that’s counterfeit to print”
I read about Congressman Santos. Nothing in his resume apppears to be true, not even his “home address” in his district. No one in his “home” knew who he was.
Where does his money come from?????
I can only hope the marble for Alito’s, author of Dobbs decision, will never be quarried.
Maybe someone can make a statue of Alito out of kids’ marbles.superglued together.
Sligo bit of marble.
Alito bit (Hat tip Bob)
Or maybe Rosary heads glued together would be more apt.
Beads not heads
AI is driving me nuts
More likely silly putty, totally maluable
In Alito’s case the material would be far more organic with quite the stench as it decays…Considering the fact that he so visibly holds his nose in the air the aroma must already be quite pungent.
One justice’s statue should be made of glass and filled with beer that streams down the face from the eye tear ducts.
That Beer wouldn’t last long if Gorsuch, an Episcopalian, likes beer as much as Kavanaugh.