Congress on Thursday passed legislation calling for the removal of the bust of Justice Roger Brooke Taney from the Capitol. The fifth chief justice wrote the infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) concluding that enslaved people were not considered U.S. citizens and therefore not afforded constitutional and legal protections. It is regarded as one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history.
The passed legislation states that Taney is "unsuitable for the honor of display to the many visitors to the Capitol." The decision to remove the bust is now in the hands of President Biden. The bill also calls for the bust to be replaced with a bust of Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first Black man to serve on the Supreme Court, reports The New York Times.
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