[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6131 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6131

  To direct the Architect of the Capitol to replace the bust of Roger 
  Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States 
 Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint 
           Committee on the Library, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2020

 Mr. Hoyer (for himself, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Mr. Trone, Mr. Raskin, 
   Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Bass, and Ms. 
   Norton) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Architect of the Capitol to replace the bust of Roger 
  Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States 
 Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint 
           Committee on the Library, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) While sitting in the United States Capitol, the Supreme 
        Court issued the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision on 
        March 6, 1857. Written by Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, 
        whose bust sits inside the entrance to the Old Supreme Court 
        Chamber in the United States Capitol, this opinion declared 
        that African Americans were not citizens of the United States 
        and could not sue in Federal courts. This decision further 
        declared that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit 
        slavery in the territories.
            (2) Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney's authorship of Dred 
        Scott v. Sandford, the effects of which would only be 
        overturned years later by the ratification of the 13th, 14th, 
        and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, 
        renders a bust of his likeness unsuitable for the honor of 
        display to the many visitors to the United States Capitol.
            (3) As Frederick Douglass said of this decision in May 
        1857, ``This infamous decision of the Slaveholding wing of the 
        Supreme Court maintains that slaves are within the 
        contemplation of the Constitution of the United States, 
        property; that slaves are property in the same sense that 
        horses, sheep, and swine are property; that the old doctrine 
        that slavery is a creature of local law is false; that the 
        right of the slaveholder to his slave does not depend upon the 
        local law, but is secured wherever the Constitution of the 
        United States extends; that Congress has no right to prohibit 
        slavery anywhere; that slavery may go in safety anywhere under 
        the star-spangled banner; that colored persons of African 
        descent have no rights that white men are bound to respect; 
        that colored men of African descent are not and cannot be 
        citizens of the United States.''.
            (4) While the removal of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney's 
        bust from the United States 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.

SEC. 2. REPLACEMENT OF BUST OF ROGER BROOKE TANEY WITH BUST OF THURGOOD 
              MARSHALL.

    (a) Removal of Bust of Roger Brooke Taney.--Not later than 30 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Architect of the 
Capitol shall remove the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme 
Court Chamber of the United States Capitol.
    (b) Replacement With Bust of Thurgood Marshall.--
            (1) Obtaining bust.--Not later than 2 years after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Joint Committee on the 
        Library shall enter into an agreement to obtain a bust of 
        Thurgood Marshall, under such terms and conditions as the Joint 
        Committee considers appropriate consistent with applicable law.
            (2) Placement.--The Joint Committee on the Library shall 
        place the bust obtained under paragraph (1) in the location in 
        the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Capitol 
        where the bust of Roger Brooke Taney was located prior to 
        removal by the Architect of the Capitol under subsection (a).
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act, and 
any amounts so appropriated shall remain available until expended.
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