South Carolina House votes to remove Confederate flag from statehouse grounds

The Confederate flag on the South Carolina statehouse grounds.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

After 13 hours of debate, the South Carolina House voted 94-20 for a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds.

The legislation has already passed the state Senate, and the House still has to have one more vote with a two-thirds supermajority in order for the bill to officially pass the chamber, The Washington Post reports. Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is expected to sign the measure after both houses pass it. The flag came under fire following the massacre of nine black parishioners, including state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D), at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. A day after the shooting, the U.S. flag on capitol grounds was lowered to half-staff, but the Confederate battle flag remained flying.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.