Top House Democrats are pressing the Senate to vote on a bill to remove the bust of former Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, the author of the Dred Scott v. Sanford ruling, from the Capitol.
In June 2021, the House passed a bill 285-120 that would replace the bust of Taney with that of former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and remove statues of individuals who served in the Confederacy. All opposition came from Republican lawmakers.
The legislation, however, has not yet been brought up for a vote in the Senate, which House Democrats are now pushing for.
In a letter on Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and other Democrats asked that the upper chamber bring up the bill for a vote “without delay” as the end of the current Congress approaches.
“Memorialization as part of the collection of artwork in the U.S. Capitol is one of the highest honors available to Americans and those who have stood with our country in defense of liberty and democracy. It is shameful that individuals who fought to uphold slavery, participated in seditious rebellion, or worked to promote segregation remain honored in such a way,” the House Democrats wrote.
The note was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rules Committee Ranking Member Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).
House Democrats said it is “an indignity” that African American individuals in the Senate are “confronted with these memorials to those who viewed African Americans as inferior and unworthy of full and equal inclusion under our Constitution.”
“It is essential that we correct this injustice now,” the lawmakers add.
Hoyer introduced the bill...